



^/l^x. -^-L. 



REMINISCENCES 



BY 



LUCY N. COLMAN. 



I would not have a slave to till my ground, 
To carry me, to fan me while I sleep, 
And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth 
That sinews, bought and sold, have ever earned. 
.No : dear as freedom is, and in my heart's 
Just estimation prized above all price, 
I had much rather be myself the slave. 
And wear the bonds, than fasten them on him. 

— Cowper. 



BUFFALO, N. Y. 

H . L. G R p: E N, Publisher. 

189T. 



E 



^ 



/3^ 



PREFACE. 



JN the early years of the antislavery a<,ntation in our country, 
it was my good fortune to become acquainted with Lucy N. 
Cohiian, author of these "Reminiscences" of her Hfe-work ; 
more particularly in the advocacy of the immediate emancipa- 
tion of the slave, although she has not failed to demand the 
equal rights of her own sex with man, not only sociall)- but 
politically. Since the time of our first acquaintance, we have 
lived on the most intimate terms of love and friendship. I have 
never found her f^iltering in any duty— popular or unpopular. 
If some one or some amsc needed her help, she was read)' to 
give it. Mrs. Colman, by her own exertions, without hcl[) from 
any one, removed from our city of Rochester the blot of the 
colored ?>z\\oo\, thereby giving to our colored people equal rights 
in our public schools, and helping to remove the prejudice so 
harmful to both races. 

Mrs. Colman and myself have in most things "seen eye to 
eye," but in the matter of Spiritualism we are widely apart. 
While to me the hiozvlcdge, for such it is to me, that my 
departed loved ones can and do come to me is a blessing po 
great that I cannot describe it, she has no faith in it whatever. 
What matter ? our friendship is too strong — too sweet to be 
disturbed by difference of opinion. I cheerfully recommend the 
work to all reformers of whatever name and grade. 

/ Amy Post. 



REMINISCENCES 



By LUCY N. COL MAN. 



T DO not remember at what age I learned the astounding 
lesson that in this so-called republican country there were 
several millions of human beings who were bought and sold like 
the beasts of the field. But it must have been almost in my 
babyhood, for I well remember being taught the " Cradle Song," 
by my mother, who died when I was six years of age. Let me 
give a few verses of this song which Christian mothers taught 
their children : 

I thank the goodness and the grace 

That on my birth hath smiled, 
And made me, in these Christian days, 

A happy English child. 

I was not born, as thousands are. 

Where God was never known. 
And taught to pray a useless prayer 

To blocks of wood and stone. 

I was not born a little slave. 

To labor in the sun, 
And wish I were but in my grave 

And all my labor done. 

I think my pious mother must have been sorely troubled to 
answer satisfactorily to herself the questions which I continually 
asked her: Why did God let children be slaves? And if God 
made little children, why did he make them black, if that were 
the reason that they were slaves? And was God good? etc.. etc. 
This being a slave seemed to me at that time the worst of all 
calamities, save one, that could happen to anybody, and that 
other was the going to hell, to be burned forever in actual fire. 

My poor little brain was so excited in trying to find answers 



6 REMINISCENCES. 

to these puzzling questions, that I wonder I did not entirely lose 
my senses and become idiotic. Perhaps the death of my mother 
and the changes that necessarily followed in the family served to 
take my mind from this particular problem in theology. 

About this time (from 1824 to 1830) there swept over New 
England what was called a revival of religion. As I look back 
upon it, it seems like some scourge or plague, so great was the 
sorrow that followed in its wake. Protracted meetings were 
everywhere the order of the day; sensational ministers were 
sought for and employed to preach, with all the effect possible, 
the coming of the day of judgment, and the sure doom of the 
impenitent. Here was another problem to be solved. Of what 
use was preaching, or praying, for those who were elected from 
the foundation of the world to be saved, and how worse than 
useless to try, by any means, to avert the doom of those who 
were fore-ordained to destruction ? 

My queries, no matter to whom addressed, always received the 
same answer, " Child, Satan desires to have you, and so he is 
putting such questions into your head ; answer him as did the 
Saviour, ' Get thee behind me, Satan ! ' and remember it is very 
wicked to reason on the ways of God ; you have the Holy Bible, 
read that, and accept it, it is God's word." At last, in despair. I 
began to read the bible, consecutively, chapter by chapter, but 
alas, I found it wholly inexplicable, and when I went to my good 
Christian aunt (who was in the place of mother to me), and 
begged her to tell me what such things meant, and wh}- God 
used such filthy words, and what was the good of such laws, and 
wh}' woman was required to do things that were wrong in the 
nature of things, the only answer that she could give me was, 
" I don't know; put away the bible till you arc older; read the 
Psalms and the New Testament." Such was the fo(ul that was 
given to children to mentally digest sixty and sevent}' j'cars ago. 
Is it better to-day ? Liberalism has so permeated thought that, 
like h(inieo[)athy in medicine — all p.itliirs are more or less 
affected by it, so that no respectable physician to-day salivates 
with calomel, or bleeds, or denies to patients burning up with 
fever cold water — the Protestant religion, in all its different 
creeds, is a mild mixture compared to what it was seventy }'ears 
ago. And perhaps for the reason that its hideousness is so 
nicely covered, there is more neeii th.il l.ii)cials be on the alert. 



REMINISCENCES. 7 

Christianity is the more dangerous when it gives its attention to 
this life. Christianity demands entire subordination to its edicts, 
no matter that it keeps out of sight the damnation of infants in 
another world, if it subjugates all children to its decrees by teach- 
ing them, not only in Sunday-schools but in public schools sup- 
ported by the public at large, the doctrines taught in the bible. 
Until the majority of the people are emancipated from authority 
over their minds, we are not safe. 

To-day, in this year 287 since Bruno lost his life in defense of 
freedom, a citizen of New York is under arrest in the State of 
New Jersey for ridiculing the idea of a God of the universe being 
born of a woman, and subject to all the ailments of babyhood. 
It is to be hoped that the jury will fail to convict, but the intelli- 
gence of a New Jersey juryman is, at the least, questionable. 
Freethinkers everywhere should use the utmost diligence to cause 
the removal of all laws that make free speaking 2^ crime. Within 
three years three persons have suffered imprisonment in England 
for caricaturing the God of the established church of that realm. 
Christians of this country and England do not hesitate to go into 
foreign countries, decry their gods and demolish the representa- 
tives of such gods, and if they, the natives, object, the sword 
soon settles the matter. 

At the time when Mr. Garrison first published his demand for 
the immediate and unconditional emancipation of the slave, all 
respectable people considered themselves Christians. The different 
sects denied the name to each other, but each sect assumed the 
name for themselves. The Presbyterian, who was at that time 
Christian par excellence, refused to fellowship the Unitarian be- 
cause the Unitarian denied that Jesus of Nazareth was the real 
God ; he made him out a strange being, hardly intelligible, per- 
haps, to himself, but surely not God. Presbyterian and Unitarian 
alike denied the Christian name to Universalists, for tliough the 
Universalist took excellent care of the son of God, making him 
not exactly equal to the father God, but really of the greatest 
importance to the human family, in that he had willingly suffered 
death for every individual, and in so doing had paid to his father 
(the principal God) the debt which Adam and Eve had entailed 
upon all of their descendants forever and forever. This debt 
once paid, the Universalist persisted and so taught, " had de- 
stroyed death and hell, and even him that had the power of death. 



8 REMINISCENCES. 

the devil," and so they were d.enied the name of Christian, for 
of what use was a creed without a burning hell, and a devil to so 
tempt human beings that few could escape the eternal flames? 

I was a young girl at that time, just in my teens, but with 
what eagerness I accepted the Univcrsalist faith ! Forgotten 
were the inconsistencies and vulgar laws recorded in tlic bible; 
here were learned men who proved conclusively that all people 
at death were immediately freed from sin, went to heaven, and, 
in the society of God and his angels, were employed in chant- 
ing praises to the majesty (be it one or three) who had redeemed 
them and made them fit subjects for an eternal life. I thought 
very little about the chattel slave, so happy was I in contem- 
plating the destruction of hell ; the world was redeemed and 
eternal suffering a thing of the past. 

Here are a few anecdotes, showing the egotism with which 
each sect regaled itself while it enjoyed the discomfiture of the 
others : 

There lived at this time a lady in Massachusetts, somewhat 
famous as a writer, who left the Presbyterian Church and joined 
the Unitarian. This lady was a great favorite with an aunt of 
hers, who considered this new heresy as a sin fatal to salvation, 
but she was so warmly attached to this very sinful niece that she 
could not deny herself the pleasure of frequently visiting her. 
One day, when taking leave of her after a pleasant day's visit, the 
aunt embraced the niece very warmly and, with the tears falling 
profusely, said to her, " Oh, do come and see me very often while 
we live, as you know when we die we shall be separated forever." 
Such was the assurance with which a certain class of Christians 
were endowed that they could, with great certaint\% fix the eter- 
nal state of themselves and others. 

The Methodists were very few in this countr)- in ni\- L;irllu)od, 
save in some (jf the large eastern towns. The PresbN'terians 
opposed them with great vigor. IVlost of the ministers were 
settled for life, and the head of every famil)' was obliged to pay 
a minister's tax. Church and State were as much connected as 
Crunch and State in England, only this marked difference was 
apparent, the " Church of England " was the Episcoi^al Church, 
only one degree removed from the Romish Church. The Puritans 
could not abide anything popish; even the hoi)' da}'s, such as 
Christmas and Master, were wholly ignored by them. The com- 



REMINISCENCES. 9 

ing into their midst of a people so widely different, most of them 
quite illiterate, noisy in their worship, with a creed wiiich made 
salvation free, with a possibility of falling from grace and being 
restored for an indefinite number of times, was too much for 
these very respectable Christians. The}' looked upon them ver)' 
much as the churches look upon the " Salvation Army," when 
they introduce themselves among them. 

In the little town in Massachusetts, where I then lived, the 
minister of the only church in the place (Presbyterian) was an 
arrogant, t)'rannical man. Settled for life, with a salar)' of $600 
per year, having married with his wife a good farm, he seemed to 
feel that he was "monarch of all he surveyed. " He visited the 
schools, ordered the Westminster catechism to be recited every 
Saturday by all the school, appointed church meetings, in which 
he told the brethren which of the political candidates they were 
to vote for, and in any and all matters that came up he was always 
both judge and jury. 

When the Methodists made their entrance into the place, 
this dictator said they were not to be toleratetl. " Keep away 
from them," was the command ; but then, as ncnv, there were 
some people who were tired of arbitrary rule ; they broke over 
the command, went to hear these enthusiastic, earnest men, and 
brought away such glowing descriptions of the exercises that 
others ventured, and at last a society was formed and a demaiul 
made for the use of the meeting-house a portion of the time. 
At a meeting of the town it was decided that every fourth .Sun- 
day the house was to belong to the Methodist Societ)', and the 
members "signed off" from the Presbyterian, and were to pay 
the minister's tax in that direction. 

The fourth Sunday at length arrived. My father decided to go 
and hear the strange speaker, taking his children with him. We 
arrived in good season ; when the bell ceased tolling, the Presby- 
terian minister walked up one flight of stairs into the pulpit, the 
Methodist the other. The Methodist, as is their wont, began 
the meeting by reading a hymn ; the Presbyterian stepped in front 
of him, lifted his open hands, and said, " Let us ask for the bless- 
ing of God." He raised his voice so loud that the more modest 
Methodist was completely lost, and the congregation were in 
wonder as to what should be the further proceedings. In the 
midst of the confusion, a man, b\' name Dennis Wood, known as 



lo REMINISCENCES. 

an Infidel, but so honorable that he always held some town office, 
rose, and with a loud voice invited the new society to use his 
house (a large dwelling-house opposite the meeting-house) to 
hold service in. The hiinister left the pulpit, proceeded to the 
offered building, followed by his society. The next day these 
people began la}'ing the foundation of a meeting-house, which 
they completed in a very short time, and their society grew apace. 

What of the old society ? From that day their prosperity 
began to wane ; the congregation diminished ; it was impossible to 
raise the salar\' recjuired ; the minister's farm was so badly man- 
aged that it yielded but a small supply for the owner's growing 
family ; they were so poor they were obliged to give up their home ; 
they went to a neighboring town, where a brother of the minister 
owned a home, which he allowed them to occupy; and finally, in 
the last years of husband and wife, they were supported by 
charity, cared for personally by a young woman whom they took 
in her childhood, treated her so shabbily that even members of 
their own church sometimes prayed for her as a fatherless orphan. 
They dared not speak about her to the minister, and so quieted 
their consciences by asking God to do for her what they dare not 
do. Perhaps their prayers were a success, at any rate the woman 
was a success. She went into a cit\', entered upon a business 
which proved profitable, and when these people with whom she 
lived as a servant in her girlhood found themselves poor and 
need}', she left her business and went and cared for them in all 
their long illness. So the table turns. 

One of the most bitter opposers of the Methodist Church was 
a man considered rich in those days of small fortunes. Me was 
superintendent of the Sunday-school, and in a general way 
officious. His eldest daughter had married a man who \\as con- 
verted to this new sect. I ihink he never loigaxe him tor so 
great a crime, and made public announcement that il he could 
see even the steeple of the building where this heres\' was 
preached fioin his attic wiiulow, he umild board it up. "See 
how these Christians lo\e each oilier" was as applical)le to the 
different sects sixt}' ami seveiit)' }ears ago as to-ihiy. 1 he Bap- 
tist Church ditl not (lourish much in this regicMi so long ago. I 
became an|uainte(l with il a fVw xears later, .iinl louiid it ver\' 
mucli like the others. 

A religion that has a personal Coil outride of hiimauit\- lo 



REMINISCENCES. 1 1 

worship and to please is quite apt to get appointed an officer to 
regulate the people, and particularly to execute punishment, 
adequate to the offense committed against an infinite ruler of the 
universe. Humanity so likes authority, and it seems sometimes 
as if it gloated up mi the suffering of its fellows. It is always 
easy to find persons, called detectives, who, if paid for it, will 
even mingle with the dci)raved and assume to connnit the crime, 
if by so doing they may bring the criminal into the power of tiie 
law. The "Jesus of Nazareth," whom the Church professes to 
follow as guide, is reported to have saitl, " Ihit whosoever shall 
smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also, and it 
a man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat let him 
have thy cloak also." But let us not glory too much in being 
Freethinkers, or be too sure of ourselves. Within the last decade, 
a person brought up at the very feet of Liberalism made quite 
a journey to fasten upon a brother Freethinker a misdemeanor, 
which should injure his reputation and thereby destroy his busi- 
ness, while this same Freethinker was shut up in prison suffering 
for us. In the words of James Parton, " He was suffering for us ; 
human nature itself was outraged in his person ; the act for which 
he suffered was as innocent as selling a loaf of bread to a hungry 
person." The editor and publisher of the Truth Seeker died a 
martyr to mental liberty, but his paper lives, and is to-day the 
bible of thousands of readers. 

I never heard that this brotherly deed was paid for in money; 
perhaps the connection which the author of the wrong hekl for 
some years to a Liberal paper was sufficient to pay for the labor. 
Some of us work "dirt cheap." That paper is no more. If any of 
its readers put on the garments of mourning at its burial we iiave 
not heard of it. The paper commanded large talent, but it was 
not successful enough to live, and so let it rest. Peace and for- 
getfulness to its ashes. 

When I was eighteen years of age 1 w;is marrie'd, and was 
too happy in the relation to think much about the slave. 
Universalism was ni}- religion, in which m\- iiusband also believed. 
I was almost content. Our removal to Boston gave me oppor- 
tum'ties for intellectual improvement, that were so grateful to me 
that I felt myself a most favored person; but alas! for human 
happiness, it is usu;ill\- of short duration. M\' husband was a 
victim of New England's scourge, consumption. SI.k \-ears com- 



REMINISCENCES. 



pleted my life with him, and at the age of twenty-four 1 was a 
widow. At twent}-six I was again married, and at the age of 
twenty-eight became a mother. I alwa\'s like to write the word 
Mother with a capital M. To me it is the most wonderful word 
in all the language; it means jox' that has nc\er been equaled. 
I can ne\'er forget the ecstac\' tiiat came over me when I first 
looked in the face of my child, and knew that it was mine; but 
with the joy came the remembrance of the slave-mother's agony, 
as she looked upon her child and knew its fate. 

I had not then given much thought to the marriage laws of all 
the states. I did not realize that only because nn' husband was 
too good to take advantage of the law, that lu\ the father, instead 
of VIC, the mother, who had gone down to death's door to give 
life to the child, oiviicd it and could control it, at any and all times, 
against my will. 

I was very sick for many months, but in this time of m\' new 
motherhood I waked to the understanding of what it is to be 
obliged to submit to laws in which you have no voice. That the 
North was by the United States laws just as responsible as the 
South ; for the terrible crime of slavery had become entire!}- ap- 
parent, but \\ hat could a woman do to abolish these dreadful 
laws? She was admc^nished by the Church that she A\as to qui- 
etly ask her husband at home for knowledge, and to submit to 
him as to God. I determined to find some way to work for the 
slaves' deli\'erance, and from that time till the I-'.mancii)ation, by 
and through the War of the Rebellion, I faithfully earned the 
reputation of an earnest Abolitionist. Some of the scenes through 
which I passed, as I have related them to m\' friends, ha\'e 
seemed to them worthy of recortl ; and so, as the work of m\' 
seventieth )'ear, I rectnd them. 

I shall also find a plade in this Autobiography to relate some- 
thing about wrougsthat do not belong exclusi\el\- to the " Anglo- 
iXfiican." In a life of so many )'ears a reformer cannot be \ery 
narrow. " Woman's wrongs and rights" must claim much atten- 
tion. I wor]<iHl specially for woui.m till I frit that her cause was 
in .1 way to take care of itself; but tlu ic ci)nie to me. as I look 
back, mail)' anecdotes bearing upon the subject that I shall not 
fail to relate. 

I have told one instance of the bigotry "f a Presb\terian min- 
ister. Lest 1 shoukl seem to look upon the Icatlers of that sect 



REMINISCENCES. 13 

as more unjust than the Methodist, I will give an instance of 
injustice that proves the contrarw In my husband's lonj; sick- 
ness of four }cars, he was \^isited h\- religionists of man)- kinds, 
but in the last year of his life a Methodist minister became 
greatly interested in him. He used to call upon him frecpientl}-, 
and tr}^ to convert him to his belief, always telling him " Unixer- 
salist faith would do to live by, but not to die by." My hus- 
band's last words were : " M\' religion is even better to die b}' 
than to live by, tell Mr. Morse" (the minister). I accordingly 
sent the clergyman a note, asking him, in consideration of having 
made my husband's case a subject for the jnilpit, to have the hon- 
esty to say from the pulpit how triumphantl\- he had died. He 
did not even mention his death. Such is the honest}' of sec- 
tarianism. 

When m)' child (a daughter) was seven years old, my husband 
was killed on the Central Railroad, by an accident caused b)' the 
penuriousness of the company, — I perhaps ought to sa}-, the crim- 
inality of the officers of the road. A switchman, who had been em- 
ployed by the company for quite a number of years at the meager 
wages of seventy-five cents a day, " struck " and demanded one dol- 
lar. It was refused and the switchman discharged. A foreigner — I 
do not know whether the nationalit}' was English or Irish ; no mat- 
ter, he was an ignorant man who landed a week bef(M-e — was em- 
plo)'ed in place of the discharged switchman. M\' husband was 
an engineer, and at that time ran the lightning express. At the 
station where tiie accident took place this train never stopi^ed. 
The whistle was sounded to announce the approach of the train. 
The new man in his confusion thought he must do something, 
so turned over the switch, letting the moving train into a freight 
train standing on the side track, and in a moment m\- husband 
was dead, I again a widow, and not )et fort\' \-ears of age. M)' 
husband was buried from Corinthian Hall, Rochester, X. ^'.. 
where we then resided, .\ndrew Jackson Davis officiating at the 
funeral. I was at that time a Spiritualist. I had gixen u[) the 
Church, more because of its complicity with slaver\- than from a 
full understanding of the foolishness of its creed. The Univer- 
salist and the Unitarian churches were offered fi)r the funeral, but 
I did not accept their use. I was no longer in .sympathy with 
them. My husband h.id belonged to the Odd Fellows associa- 
tion in Boston. That particular Lodge had disbanded, but the 



14 REMINISCENCES. 

Odd Fellows of Rochester voted to .itteiul the fuiu ral in a Ixxh', 
and take charge of the same when it should leave the hall. I 
consented to this arrangement, onl}- stipulating that the\- should 
omit the pra\-er — 1 had at that time full}- outgrown ////V/c prayer. 

I ma}', in the course of this Autobiograph}-, give a chapter on 
Spiritualism as it came to me, and I think if those of m}' friends 
shall read it who have accused me of nt)t studying its different 
phases, and putting m}'self in the wa}' of seeing its phenomena, 
the}- will at least acknowledge their mistake. But for the present 
I have something to sa}' of the great railroad corporation, and 
here a little of "woman's wrongs " will be admissible. I waited a 
suitable time, expecting some one of the officers would call to 
see me, having no doubt the}' would expect to do what mone}' 
would do, to atone for their criminalit}-. They had run extra 
trains from Alban}' and Buffalo, giving free passage to the hun- 
dreds who came o\er the road to attentl the funeral. Air. Colman 
was a ver}'' popular man with all chissts of railroad men. He 
had served seven }'ears to lc:arn tlic blacksmith's trade, three }"ears 
as a machinist, and then ran one of the very earliest trains ()\-er 
one of the first roads in Massachusetts. Besides this he was one 
of the members of the first brass bantl in this countr\-, pla}'ing 
.second to Kendall's first bugle. Ilardlx' a musician of an}- repu- 
tation in the countr}' but knew him, and musicians as well as me- 
chanics came to his funeral. It was computed that more than 
five hundred people went awa}' from the hall (^the hall seated 
fifteen hundred) without gaining entrance, ever}- possible si)ot be- 
ing filled. Thus much honor was i)aid to the memorv of the 
murdered man, and the railroad paiil the expense. J^ut a large 
funeral would not support a famil}', and Mr. Colman left onl}' a 
home, and that mortgaged. And so because of what the com- 
pany Jiad done, I confidently expected more. 

I waited some weeks, and then made the journe}' to a more 
eastern cit}'. I went to the office of the sui)eiintendent, but he 
was not in. W'lun told he might not be in for hours. 1 went to 
his home, with a determination to stay until I slundd see him. 
It was nearly night w Iumi he came. 1 le told me he nex-er attentled 
to business at home ; l)ul I persisted, lie finall}- asked me it 1 
had had dinntr, and, in his great condescension, asketl me to dine 
w ith them. At length, as I j)ersisted, he was obliged to talk bus- 
iness. This was his decisit)n : The}', the corporation, acknowl- 



REMINISCENCES. , q 

edged no obligation to an cni[)Io)cc, — it would be a b.id pictu 
dent. The}' had alread\- done more for nie than foi- ;in\- otlni 
case of the kind. They had paid the expenses of the funeral, 
and a v.uvibcr of tJic officers Jiad attended tJic funcrnL It woulil 
be wrong- to take the company's money. Many of the stock- 
holders were Windows and orphans. Thc\- had no right to take 
their income and give it to me. This man liad connnon sense, 
strange as it may seem, was a shining light in a Christian cliurcii, 
and more than all else, he had caused the discharge of the expe- 
rienced switchman, replacing him with the ignorant man. k'ind- 
ing him the official incorrigible, I left him, and in the course of a 
month I had consulted nine lawyers, some of them considered 
the best in the State. All agreed that it was a clear case, that 
any jury would give the sum demanded; but they also agreed 
that I would never get a cent. The company would appeal the 
case, the " Court of Appeals" was already made over to the rail- 
road, by deciding that a person emplo}'ed by a corporation be- 
comes a member of sncJi corporation, and of course could claim no 
damages in case of accident. I asked if a petition to the Legis- 
lature to annul such a decision might not be a good thing for 
some bereaved farnih- in the future. I found the Legislature was 
controlled by the great Central Railroad of New York. 

I then asked the company to give me emplo\'ment in some of 
their offices — a ticket office, I suggested. The official lifted hi'^ 
hands in respectable horror. " Why, Mrs. Colman ; }-ou would 
not put yourself in such an exposed situation ! You have a little 
daughter; she might be degraded by the mother taking a position 
of such publicity. Can't you take boarders? We could send 
\ou twenty-five of our laborers next week." A little girl would 
be in no danger of degradation b\' the daily presence of twent\-- 
five boarders, of not a very elevated class! The price paid would 
not give mother or child man}- luxuries, and the mother would 
not be apt to get out of her sphere in such occupation, but I was 
not ready yet to take the boarders. 

I called on the postmaster, and said, " You have established a 
ladies' window; will you give me the position as clerk at that 
window?" " I wish I could," said the gentleman ; "a woman ought 
to have it, but I dare not make the innovation." Not cntirel}" 
discouraged, I next went to a printing office, which had ad\er- 
tised for boys to learn t)'pe-setting, and saitl. wouldn't \-ou give 



1 6 REMINISCENCES. 

me such a place? "No; a printing office is no place for a 
woman!" "Where is her place, sir?" "At home." "But if 
she has no home, only as she earns it, what then?" " She can't 
come here." 

This was nearly forty years ago ; now we have women in i)ost- 
offices, printing-offices and ticket-offices. This was a time 
of Woniaiis Wrongs. Has she to-day conquered all her /v4'"///.s-.'^ 
Not till she helps to make the law by which she is governed. 
I next applied for a place in a public school, and obtained 
one by taking the place of a man, and doing his work, for 
which I was paid three hundred and fifty dollars a \"car. 
The man who preceded me was paid eight hundred dollars 
per year. I had an object in view in taking that school, 
which I accomplished, other than earning my living. There 
had been for many years in Rochester a school called the 
colored school, at which all children having colored blood, who 
accepted public instruction from the city, were required to attend. 
The house was the basement of the African Church, situated in 
a low part of the city, speaking either ph\'sically or mor.dl}', and 
no matter what the distance from the homes, this was the place. 
I presume it was because of my known Abolitionism that 1 was 
offered the school. Quite a difference between eight hundred 
dollars and three hundred and fiftw I took the situation, deter- 
mining in my own mind that I would be the last teacher, and 
that that school should die. It died in just one }'ear. 1 per- 
suaded the parents in the different districts to send the more ad- 
vanced children to the schools in theii' own districts, suggesting 
that tiu\' alwa}'s see to it that llu-\' wtiil particulaii}- clctDi, and 
to im[)ri.'ss upon the pupil that his or her beha\'ior be faultless as 
possible. I then atlvised the trustees of the church to w ithdraw 
the i)ermission for an\' further use of the l)uilding, sa\'e for church 
purposes. When the time came for the opening of the ni'w 
N'ear's school, there was neither scholars nor school-house. Tlie 
death was not violent. No mention was made of the decease in 
the pa|)ers, and I presume there were not ten persons in the cit}" 
that knew, or if they had known would have cared, that the ilis- 
gracc was abolished. 1 was giwn another sclux^l, lor peihaps no 
more laudable reason th.m I oliiaiuid lln' otjui. but tliis lime it 
was not to save nionew 

II I Were not writing an .\utoi)iogiapii\-, 1 sliould feel that 



REMINISCENCES. 1 7 

there was a good ileal of egotism in man\' of ni\' anecdotes, hut 
I was in them, and my experience is what I am w riting. At this 
time Susan R. Anthony was recognized as a school-teacher, ami 
at the annual meeting of the State Convention of Teachers, held 
the previous year, had by great adroitness or skill gotten a latl)' 
teacher appointed to read an essay the next year; she herself be- 
ing already on the list. The lady appointed was rather of the 
milk-and-water kind, and w hat she would have said, had she not 
lost her courage for the attempt, I cannot tell. I know what she 
would not have said. She would not have said anything against 
the Bible, nor the use of it in schools. 

When Miss Anthony found the lady would fail her, she came 
to me, saying she worked very hard to get the appointment for 
one of her own sex; asking me to prepare something and take 
the place as a substitute — a place I never like. T saitl t]ic\- would 
probably not hear me, but be glad that one woman had failed to 
meet her appointment ; but her persuasions were at last suc- 
cessful. 

I had, in the weekK' or monthly meetings of the teachers in 
Rochester, tried to induce the teachers to abolish the use of cor- 
poreal punishment in school. This was not j)]casing to an}- of 
the teachers, .save one ; all, with this one exception, were sure there 
could be no order without the whip. I thought if I could be 
given the opportunity, I would at least say why my opinion was 
against whipping children, and accordingly prepared an essay 
which would take about t\vent\' minutes to read. After writing 
it I carried it to our cit\' superintendent, asking him to do me the 
kindness to read and criticise it, — not the argument, hut the 
style. He read it, and said, "You use the personal pronoun /. 
It would be more elegant to say we'' (you see, my friends, I be- 
gan very early to be egotistical). I said, " How can I sa)' li'e, when 
I know no one agrees with me?" " Well, then, it is al! right ; but 
I warn you that you will raise a hornet's nest about your ears.'" 
His prophesy proved true. Saiil one of the learned teachers, a 
minister, by the way (many of the teachers were ministers). '• What 
will you do with the words of the wisest man, Solomon, 'spare 
the rod and spoil the child ' ?" " I answered, just what 1 woidd tlo 
with the example of Solomon, if a Mormon were to sa)- to me. 
"Solomon had seven hundred wives; why should not I have sev- 
enty or seven ? " 



1 8 REMINISCENCES. 

I oui^ht to liavc told }-ou of the difficult)- I h.ul in y;cttint; per- 
mission to read that essay. I was not known to the convention, 
and in the discussion, in which the pros and cons of the propriety 
of a substitute taking the place without having been appointed at 
the same time of the regularly appointed essayist, I kept entirely 
still. I felt sure that some one of the Rochester teachers had 
li'hispcj'cd \.\\c words, Infidel Abolitionist, and I did not care to be 
known unless accepted. A teacher sitting b}- nic said, " What is 
there about that Mrs. Colman, that they object so much to hear- 
ing her ? Here they have taken the entire time of one session dis- 
cussing whctlicr or not the)- will hear her. Do )-ou know the lad)'.''" 
I said, " A little." but was not disposed to be communicative. 
But when I announced, in answer to the question, " What would 
you do with the words of Solomon?" that I would tell the Mor- 
mon that the civilization of the nineteenth century had outgrozvn 
Solomon and his wives, the silence for a moment was ominous. 
Then the hisses came, with "She is an Infidel ; I told you so." I 
was greatly embarrassed when I began the reading of that very 
simple paper. Now I was not in the least frightened. I am not 
of the material that can be frightened by opposition, nor thrown 
from my position b)' insult. I said in answer to the mournful a^- 
sertion that "She has taken away m\' Bible." " If )'our Bible is a 
■ bundle of rods, or a license for adulter)-, the loss of it will be a 
blessing." 

The session was continued till after the hoiu" for adjournment, 
and when the evening session came, it was again Mrs. Colman 
and her Infidclit)-. I suggested to the chairman that, in m\" opin- 
ion, it would be more profitable to the convention to discuss the 
subject matter of the essa)-, rather than the religious opinions of 
the writer. It was a hot discussion, lasting till eleven o'clock at 
night. Miss Anthony's essay was hardi)- noticed (it was " Educa- 
tion of the Sexes Together"), as she in those da)-s, thirt\-five 
years ago, did not trample upon holy ground. \\!hethcr slie does 
to-day I do not know. It is man)-, man)- }'ears since I have heard 
her. I am glad to know that her life-long friend and associate, 
Mrs. Stanton, does sometimes allow herself to be advertised to 
speak for the Freethinkers. 

Now what was the pcnalt)' put upon Mrs. Colman for her Infi- 
del essa)' in Rochester? I" was appointed to School No. i, at tlic 
time confessedl)- I Ik- most iliflicult school to go\ern in all the cit\'. 



REMINISCENCES. 19 

made up of all nationalities, and ()\ei-larc;e for the room, with t\v<i 
assistants, each with a whi]) in hand. The State Su[)erintendcnt 
at the convention where 1 liad declared a[4"ainst the whip (tlic 
convention was held in the City of Tro\'), cHd me tlie honor to 
say that I had convinced liim that the LeL;islature should abolish 
corporeal punishment, and he should ask them to do it that sea- 
son ; and so, by his advice, I took the whips from the young ladies, 
told them I was senior teacher, and would from that time do the 
whipping. Suffice it to sa)-, I had no trouble in managing the 
school. But the Legislature did not abolish the rod. 

In Syracuse the Board of Education, when the Rev. Samuel 
J. May was chairman of the same, abolished corporeal punish- 
ment in its dominions. Mr. May was a reformer in the true sense 
of the word; an Abolitionist of the most pronounced tj'pe, and 
an open advocate of suffrage for woman (alas, how much woman 
has missed him, when an advocate for any particular claim has 
been needed ! ). He died some years since. His pul[)it was always 
free, almost the only Unitarian pulpit oixmi to 'rhc(Hlore Parker, 
after his denial of the inspiration of the Hebrew Scriptures, as in 
any sense different from other histories. He was particularly em- 
phatic in his demand that one code of morals should obtain for 
both sexes. But though Mr. May's memory is revered and mon- 
uments are erected, in no city of my knowledge are the tivo moral 
codes more literally indulged than in Syarcuse. The long-prophe- 
sied millenium is not yet. 

I did not remain teacher long in Rochester. The small salary 
and the wide difference made because of sex, was a bitterness 
that I could not easily swallow ; and then I was not popular 
among the teachers. I always insisted that the schools were for 
the benefit of the pupils, and that is not allowable. " Dickens' 
Nurses" are not b)- any means the only officials whose comfort is 
the principal thing to be thought of. Everywhere the rule holds 
good, that the official is the one to be benefited, not the persons 
over whom he is placed. The exception proves the rule. 

I had been feeling for a long time that I must speak for 
the slave; but how, or where to begin:" The death of my oldest 
sister, with whom m\- father and mother lived (ni\- aunt had now 
become my mother), made a change for them imperative, and it 
seemed best that the}' should come to me. I could now leave 
home, as m\- mother would take care of m\- little girl ami keep 



20 REMINISCENCES. 

tlic home. I had one friend in Rochester who thorcuL;hl)- be- 
lieved in me, and she has kept that beh'ef in all these years — Amy 
Post. We have been more like dear sisters for forty years, than 
like anything in relationship more remote. She declared herself 
ready to plan a camiKiign, anil to accompany me as escort. She 
therefore said : "Get read}'; write out two lectures, so that you 
may be prepared to speak twice in one place, if desirable, and I 
shall soon make an appointment." 

Mrs. Post had been a life-long Friend, prominent, with her 
husband, in the monthly and yearly meetings of that society, and 
had only left them because they had been false to freedom in the 
person of the slave. She of course knew people in ex'cry cpiarter 
of the state where there were Friends ; and in many places there 
were very many who, like herself, had left the societ}\ One Sat- 
urday morning word came to me from ni)- friL-nd that she had 
made an appointment for me to speak in a Presbj'terian church, 
in the town of Rush, the following Sunda\^ evening, and that she 
would call for me in a few hours. I was full of fear; to speak in a 
church was something formidable. What if I should fail ? We 
were to be entertained at the home of the person who hail ob- 
tained the use of the church— a l^^ricnd — but whose standing in 
the town was so respectable that the Church granted the use of 
the building. Mr. Hallock did not know me, but supposed I was 
an experienced speaker. Mrs. Post charged me that on no ac- 
count was I to tell them that I had nc\er spoken, sa\'e for a {cw 
moments in some convention. She said they hail no anxiet\-, and 
it would be foolish to give them any. 

Tlic bill rang for the services, and with trrnihling knees I 
ascended the pul[)it. I always had such commaiul of m\' voice, 
that my embarrassment was not observable, if I could keep out of 
sight the trembling that possessed ni\ ph\sicyl frame. The meet- 
ing was pronounced a success. Mrs. Post and Mrs. liallock sat 
in the pulpit with me. Mrs. Post opened the meeting with a 
short speecii, and then iiil loduced me in (|uit(.' .1 tkittering 
manner. 

( )n riding home that nii^ht after the meeting. M.. Ilallock 
said to Mrs. i'ost : " I )oes Luc)' COhnan alu ays speal< h'om a w rit 
ten manuscript.^" Mrs. I'ost's answer was : "I ue\ cr he.ii il her 
wlun she used notes until this evening." " Well. ' --.lid Mr. lial- 
lock, '"if she will throw aside her notes, 1 will obtain the hou.se 



REMINISCENCES. _• i 

in another part of the town, and take her over there for another 
meeting. I don't Hkc reading — I am too much of a FriencL" 
And so the notes were carefuUy put aside, and the next meeting- 
was an extempore speech. 

My next pubhc address was in the t(nvn of Williamson, where 
Hved a noted reformer — Griffith Cooper. He had been a naval 
officer, but had been converted to the doctrine of Peace, in some 
special outpouring of the spirit, and was a Friend ; but left the 
organization for the same cause that Amy and Isaac I'ost had, — 
pro-slavery in the church. I had a professed friend in Rochester 
who, though a Friend and Abolitionist, always felt that he held a 
commission from God to attend to God's business in this world. 
He was eminently Christian, and kept all the command- 
ments of the law (save paying his debts). lie did not like 
my Infidelity. As soon as he heartl that an appointment had 
been made for me through Griffith Cooper, for a Sunday lecture, 
he made haste to visit Mr. Cooper, told him he was afraid the 
speaker would be a great disappointment, as she was entirelx- new 
in the business, etc. This w^as very perplexing to Mr. Cooper, 
but the meeting was well advertized and must go on. When 
Mrs. Post and I arrived, Mr. Coo[)er evinced a great dislike to me, 
saying that his frienci and wife from Rochester were in the house, 
and had told him that we were imposing upon them a person wlu^ 
was entirely green, and would no doubt disgrace the getters-up 
of the meeting. I was so chagrined that I refused his hospitality, 
as did Mrs. Post, and we sought a home, which was easih' ob- 
tained, elsewhere. 

The house in which I was to speak was a union house, built 
by more than one body of Christians. The Reformed Presb\'te- 
rians had at that time a settled minister — Gregg b\' name. He 
occupied the pulpit in the morning, giving it to me for the after- 
noon. At another village the Methodists were ha\ing a pro- 
tracted meeting, but the}' ga\'e uj) their meeting for the hour that 
I should speak, and the ministers came in a bod\-, some five or 
six of them, and took seats in a line very near the pulpit. Mr. 
Gregg opened the meeting with prayer. Mrs. Post was with me 
in the pulpit. The iiouse was crowded, and it w.is daylight 
instead of evening. Mrs. Post alwa\s said she couKl hear m>' 
heart beat, so actively did it thump; but when I .saw Mr. Cooper, 
with his Rochester friend, looking as though a gicat catastrophe 



2 2 REMINISCENCES. 

was about to happen, I lost all fear, and so conquered the timid 
getter-up of tlie meeting that, at the close of the service he came 
to me, apologized for liis inhospitable greeting, said he was proud 
of my success, and gave me a cordial invitation to his house. 
But I was already engaged by Mr. Gregg to go that evening to 
Webster, some tweh'e miles, and speak for him at his regular 
evening service. 

All these persons, sa\'e my constant friend, Am\' Post, are 
dead;"" but I have recorded this to show how much more to be 
dreaded, and if possible avoided, is a false friend than an open 
foe. Once engage in the dirty work of injuring one who tloes not 
believe in )-our creed, and the work grows apace ; and worse -than 
all else, such persons come to think they are really doing God a 
service for which they shall merit and obtain a high seat in 
heaven. 

In the autumn of that year Mrs. Post proposed that we should 
go to Michigan and attend the annual convention of the Western 
Anti-Slavery Society, and so find and plan work for the winter. 
And now commences my most arduous work for the slave. 
This annual convention was held in a small town, some fifteen or 
twenty miles west of Detroit — not on the line of the railroad — 
so we were obliged to stop in Detroit overnight, and find as earl\' 
conveyance as possible. Mrs. Post, always fertile in resources, 
suggested that we hunt up some of the colored people of the 
cit\', <}uite a number of whom she had entertained at her house. 
So we went first into a barber-shop, where we found a hne-look- 
ing, intelligent nuilatto, who, learning our names and business, 
iiu'itcd us to go to his house, where he said we would hiul his 
wife, who would be glad to entertain us as long as we desired to 
stay in Detroit; adding that ]\Irs. Pibb, the widow of Henry 
Bibb, was a boarder in their family. 

I think Henry liibb tleserves some little notice here, as he was 
somewhat notable, and was also the first coloreil man whom 1 
ever heard speak. 1 le made his escape from slaver)', was retaken, 
and subjected to a punishment for the awful crime of tr\ing 
to be a ficcnian, that would shame a s,i\-.igc-. ;\n iron ring. lilKd 
with sharp pointed nails, was put about his neck and welded 
togetlier so close-, that tin- least lurnin;.;(if llie head in an)' way 

* Since lliib article was wiiUcn tli:U noble associate of Mis. Culman. .Amy l'»)st, 
has also ilieil, as has many others of that noble band of .\bolilionisls. — I'liui.lsiiiCK. 



REMINISCENCES. -3 

would cause these points to bore into the flesh. Such was his 
ecjuipment for day and night. The master was a Christian, the 
deacon of the Presbyterian church in the phice. That region of 
the South where this man was a shive, was at this time greatly 
troubled by horse-thieves, and a compan\' of tliem \isiting this 
town, for the purpose of buying horses, as they .said, came to see 
the deacon's stables. They were shocked at the cruelty displayed, 
and iiiimcdiately decided to buy the slave, the deacon agreeing 
to make the price less, because the slave was so light-colored that 
he was of less value. The bargain was made, and Bibb was taken 
to a blacksmith and the iron collar cut from his neck, the horse- 
thieves taking good care to possess themselves, in a {c\\ days, of 
horse-flesh from the possessions of this good man of sufficient 
value to cover the expense of the slave. They were ver)' kind to 
their man, but told him thc\' could not afford to give him his 
freedom without making something out of him, and that the)' 
would sell him to some one who would treat him well, compared 
to the treatment he had received from his former master ; and 
that before they would sell him, they would first teach him to 
escape from slavery, and put himself beyond being re-taken ; all 
of which they did. Mr. Eibb became a Reverend, quite a suc- 
cessful business man, and died leaving a small pro})ert\' to his 
widow, who Avas an accomplished woman. 

To return to our journe)': We found a more than comfortable 
home at the residence of our colored acquaintances, William and 
Agnes Wallace. They were fugitives of some ten )'ears. In that 
time the husband had earned a home — a pretty cottage on (.\)n- 
gress street — and the wife had furnished it by the use of her needle ; 
and it was not only comfortable in the furnishing, but there 
were many elegancies, that very few of the working people of 
that day felt able to suppl}' themselves with. Hut the\- were 
fugitives, and liable to arrest for the crime of trying to own 
themselves. Mrs. Wallace proposed that we return to Detroit 
after the convention closed, and we concludetl to do so. 

We found a conveyance to our meeting, arriving rather late in 
the afternoon. We were both of us entire strangers. Henry C". 
Wright was present, and a man formcrlx' from Rochestei', Ilein\- 
De Garmo, whose father was a Friend. De (iarmo had become an 
Infidel of the Thomas Paine stamp. No one i)aid much atten- 
tion to us; and we were a good deal disturbed by the character 



24 REMINISCENCES. 

tliat the nieetino- seemed to have taken. It was the anniversary 
of the Western .\ntislaver\' Societ\^ but Si)iritualisni was the 
subject under discussion. My friend Mrs. Post, as well as my- 
self, was a Spiritualist, but we could see no propriety in 
turninj^ an Abolition meeting into an "experience-meeting" for 
Spiritualists. Even the veteran Henry C. Wright seemed to have 
lost all zeal for the work of the slave, saying that now the spirits 
would, without doubt, bring about the emancipation of the race; 
just as the Christian would have said, " God will, in his own good 
time, take care of the slave." Mr. Wright did not make himself 
at all familiar with us, not even introducing us to an}' of the res- 
idents ; but Mr. De Garmo remembered Mrs. Post, and soon 
found a home for us with his sister and her husband who lived in 
the place. Mere I found the Boston Investigator, as well as I'Jic 
Liberator. This famih' were ready to become Spiritualists when 
the proof should come to them ; Init I think it ne\'er came — never 
while I knew them. 

We had very earnest discussions as to the proper subjects to 
come before the meeting. Marius Robinson was present from 
Ohio, — a man almost ethereal in his make-up. lie was one of 
the young men called " the Lane Seminar}- bo\-s," stuth'ing un- 
der Dr. Beecher, who left the seminary on account of the position 
its president held toward the anti-sla\'er}' cause. Mr. Robinson 
gave up his anticipations of the pulpit, became an earnest worker 
for emancipation, — editing for some years the Aulislavery Bugle, 
a very respectable paper published in Salem, Ohio, — the organ of 
the Western Society. This man- -whom to look upon would 
impress one with Ids goodness — was set upon b\' a mob (some 
years before the time I am describing), wltile \<:Q\.\\\\wgJarred atid 
feathered, left to die, but b\^ an effort removed himself from the 
solitarv place of his j)ersecution. .So long a time elapsed before 
he was disc(jvereci and rescuetl, that his death seemed immim-nt. 
He was very sick', and for man\- months entirel\' confmeil to his 
bed, and never recox'ered his wonted luailh. This m.in was not 
at all inclined to give up this meeting, — to .Spii jlu.dism. lie, 
with Mrs. Post and mx'self, strongly opposetl the whole thing, 
'ihis was the beginning of hostilities, so to speak, with the Spir- 
itualists of Michigan and inxseli. 

I was appointed b\ this We^ti'm .Soeietx' as their aceredili'd 
agent, .\.\\\\ so advertised, but li.id to p.iy my own ex[)enses, and 



REMINISCENCES. 25 

make my own salary; not a very briyjht outlook iur carninj^ a 
living for the home in Rochester. But I had succeeded so well in 
three months that the American Antislavcr\' Society, havini,^ its 
head-quarters in Boston, being informed that I had kept myself 
employed, paying my own way, sent me a commission to work for 
them, guaranteeing my expenses and a small salar\', at the same 
time charging me to make, or rather use diligence to make the 
collections cover the expenses. I had asked that society to em- 
ploy me, when 1 decidi-d to go west, but my Rochester friouh 
had sent them word that I would fail (I had uKjre than one 
of that kind of friends there) ; so I had failed to get the ap- 
pointment. 

It was a great satisfaction to be told, as I was, by the general 
agent at the end of the year, that my work had cost the society 
less than that of any other agent, and that I had been into man)' 
new places that no other person had atteni[)ted. I did not tell 
him, what was true, that when not able to find people friendly to 
the cause who would entertain me for the cause's sake, I never 
allowed myself the luxury of more than one meal a da)-, nor a 
fire in my room ; no matter tlujugh the thermometer marked 
fifteen or twenty degrees below zero. 

If reformers were a little less like other people, and woukl put 
aside their jealousies, fearing that some other one would be a 
little more popular than they, and so not be guilt)^ of suggesting 
that there might be improprieties in their conduct, the work for 
the world would be more easily done ; but if the people of the 
world were perfect, then there would be no need of reform. 

When I went to Michigan, Spiritualism was rioting, like 
some outbreak of disease. Circles were the order of the day. 
and of the night. Though I believed at that time in the phe- 
nomena as spiritual, I could not consent to be tlictated in \\\\ 
work by spirits. Spirits had always existed since the advent of 
humanity, as had God. Why had the)-, like (loil. been so dila- 
tory in their work? I preferred to do ni)- own work, and hi- 
responsible for its success or failure 

The Indian spirits had not then made their advent, the\- 
were mostly one's own pej-sonal friends, or some noteii man like 
John Quincy Adams, or some minister; if among Methodists, 
John Wesley; Friends, George Fox or I-llias Hicks. They 
came and communicated by raps, or tips, and some people were 



2 6 REMINISCENCES. 

entranced, and delivered speeches; not always full of wisdom, Init 
often, seemingly, above the capacity of the medium. Tlie sub- 
ject more generally dwelt upon was the inharmonies of domestic 
life, and more than one couple released themselves from each 
other b}' and through the advice of the spirits. I remember one 
person who, with her husband, was traveling, giving discourses on 
the development of the " love principle." Their outfit was a 
hand-cart, containing their wardrobe, some pictures, which the\' 
offered for sale, and two children. The husband drew the cart, 
the wife walked, and the children alternated ; sometimes walking, 
and at others riding. 

These people were so refined that they ate no meat, nor any- 
thing that grew in the dark, — like roots of any kind, — but as the\' 
asked the hostess — who had taken them into her home to stay over 
Sunda\- — for eggs for their breakfast, I suggested that it would be 
very improper to eat eggs, as Xhcy surely gr civ in the dark. The}', 
however, ate the eggs with a relish, and their spirituality was not 
dimmed. The wife told me she had never been so happ)' since 
she was married as then. She felt that she was helping the 
spirits to improve the world, and surely I do not know that she 
was not. 

But the most remarkable case of Spiritualism that came under 
my notice, was that of a young married woman, whom the spirits 
constantly controlled, who refused all food for weeks at a time. 
.She was informed by her own hand that she must reluse any 
longer to be the wife of her husband ; that even her child was 
begotten by lust, and hence she was not to see her much ; that she 
was now on a low plane, and that if she would refuse food, she wouKl 
become ethereal, and the ph)'sical bodx' wcndd jKiss off in parti- 
cles, and she would become a spirit without death. She practiced 
the diixctions, eating nothing for one or two weeks, then eating 
a small lum[) of loaf sugar, or a teaspoonful of some higlilx' con- 
centrated preserved fruit. 

This wcjinan finally Kfl her home, and, atUr being gone a _\e.ir, 
or tliereabouts, returned to the cilw and wt>uUl ha\'e ri;lurnei.l to 
her home, but it was shut against her. .She iiatl a strange life — 
lived some years with ancjther husband, wlu) pro\etl ^hiltless in 
all things. She became a Si)irilual 1 balei, accumulated (|uite a 
little property, shirked tuitlur care of Ik r husl)and, and when I 
last saw her, had become a charming woman. I ne\er tell it ni}' 



REMINISCENCES. J7 

business to decry this woman. She hud accepted this new doc- 
trine as a religion, and faithfully she kept its commands. The 
wrong is in giving up one's sense, and listening to counsel that 
you do not understand. There was, no doubt, back of all this 
that I have related, a bitterness that none but a woman married 
to a coarse, uncongenial husband, could appreciate. 

There is in one of the prisons of Michigan to-day, a woman 
who, in the following year, was sentenced for life for the crime of 
killing her children, — two, I think, — made possible to her by the 
acceptance of communications from alleged spirits. This woman 
is a member of a very respectable family of Central New York. 
She was always respectable, but a " little queer." She lived in 
IMichigan with her husband, on a small farm, and when she be- 
came a widow had three children. I called on her, and had 1 
been describing her, should have said she was doing very well. 
working hard to support her famil}\ but very ignorant, and 
inclined to accept all the nonsense coming through mediums as 
authoritative. A medium at last became an inmate of her family. 
The younger children were sent to heaven, and she — and I think- 
the medium — was sent to prison for life. Why will peoi)le give 
up their own common-sense and take into their homes men 
and women to give them reports of spirit friends? The\- are all, 
so far as I have known them, after the "loaves and fishes" fur 
themselves, and they always obtain them. 

When the convention which Mrs. Post ami I had attended ad- 
journed, she prepared to go home; and as I had promised to 
speak in Detroit, I concluded to go with her on her way home, 
and fulfill the engagement. Mrs. Wallace had obtained a house, 
and the meeting Vvas advertised. We had a peaceful meeting, 
but not large. Mrs. Wallace had been in the habit of doing sew- 
ing for the "Ward family." Capt. Ward was reputed rich, — he 
afterwards employed a medium to advise him in his business — so 
it was said. Mrs. W. vvas confident if I would make application 
to him, he would make a donation to the slave's cause ; so she 
undertook to introduce me. I ha\-e often been refused money — 
sometimes with insolence — but I do not remember ever to have 
been so grossly insulted as by this same gentleman. As I recall 
his words, and looks,— happening more than thirt\- \ears ag«), — 
my indignation returns; and I find that in all these years I have 
not fori^iven him. 



28 REiMINISCENCRS. 

My colored friend was astonished beyond measure, — this was 
before A. J. Davis had borrowed from the Russians a Diaki, else 
we might believe some one of the supposed infernals possessed 
him. Some of the Scriptures are so applicable to people of this 
century, that I like to quote from them: " Let no man say when 
he is tempted of evil, he is tempted of God (spirits), for God can- 
not be tempted of evil, neither tempteth he any man, but every man 
is tempted when he is drawn away by his own lusts and enticed." 
It seems to me quite as dishonorable to put our own wrong-doing 
upon spirits, as it is for a Christian to go into heaven upon the 
merits of another. Let vie at least bear the fruits of my wrong- 
doing, as well as the honor of my good deeds, or if not the honor, 
the satisfaction. T cannot feel that the .Spiritualist gains any- 
thing over the Christian, in having so many gods as guardian 
spirits, nor so large a number of evil spirits, or devils. I should 
feel like the little girl who would not allow her pet dog to follow 
her, because " 't was bad enough to have Dod tagging after," 
without having a dog also. Too many attendants are not agree- 
able, of either kind. 

I have spun out my rcllections upon Capt. Waril to more 
length than was requisite, and so will say, " peace to his ashes." 

After leaving Detroit I went to Ypsilanti, and worked in that 
region. I found a good home with Samuel Moore and wife — one 
of the subscribers to The Truth Seeker, and Frekthinkers' 
Ma(jAZINE. He is an old man, hut his letters always seem to give 
me the feeling of a good hand-shake. His wife, a good woman, 
has " passed on." Mr. Moore took me around the country and 
spoke with me, wherever he could find a house open to us. We 
met with very little hostility. 

1 then went to Ann Arbor. There was a little society there 
who were mostly Reformed I'ricnds. The)' hail a small house, 
and it was oj)en to any one who w islieii to use it lor the slave's 
cause. I had no difficult}' in this cit}'. The students of the col- 
lege, lor sonic leason, did not get aroused to deeds of violence, 
but a few months later, while an antislavery meeting was in ses- 
sion, addressed by a man, tiiey (the stuiU-nts. with sonu- "others 
of the baser sort", attacked the speaker, broke the windows of 
the little chunli, diMnolished the seats, and coni|)Ktely l)it)ke up 
thp meeting. 

I found a home in tlie lainil)' ol .i Oiiakcr minister, whom I 



REMINISCENCES. 29 

have been told was vei')' po[)iilai" in tlie order of I'^icinls. lie 
was a very tyrant in his family. His eldest son told nie he 
had often flogged him, but the last time he attempted it he had 
refused to remove his coat, as ordered by his father. He instead 
said, "If you wish to fight, I am read)-. Yesterday I was a hoy, 
and would have obeyed you, but to-day I'm a many Such was 
Christian parental authority thirty years ago. Sixty years ago I 
knew a Methodist presiding elder to stop three times in his morn- 
ing pra)'er, and severely whip his child, a mere baby, because it 
would not keep still through the service. "Spare the rod," etc., 
was a Icsr^on well learned b)' some of our fathers of the olden 
time. 

In a little town not far from Ypsilanti. there occurred a cir- 
cumstance among the Baptists, of which 1 was not I he heroine, but 
as I spoke in the church a month later, it will not be trespassing 
to relate it. This place was the home of our infidel friend, Henr}- 
De Garmo. He had in his employ a fugitive slave, a very l)lack 
man, large and good-looking. His wife was also of the same 
style, very dark, and the children, of whom there were seven, 
were ditto. This negro was a very pious liaptist, always attended 
church, and paid as much as he could afford in support of the 
minister, but his place was always in the "negro pew." Mr. De 
Garmo used to ask him if he expectetl tooccup\'a jiew in heaven, 
telling him that his brethren cared nothing for him, only that he 
was a good paying member. This, Jimmie, as he was called, de- 
nied the saying, " That they were all one in Christ Jesus." At 
length a new church was to be built, and Jimmie, when he hail a 
da)^ that could be spared . from his regular work, helped about the 
church with right good will, and in good time the house was 
completed and dedicated, and the tla\- ai)pointe(l f'r the sale of 
the pews. Mr. De Garmo said, " Wouldn't )'ou like to buy a pew, 
Jimmie?" " Yes, very much, if I had money." "Well, I want 
you to buy a pew ; it's hardl\- respectable not to own a pew, 
such a faithful Baptist as you are; go and bid off the best pew 
in the broad aisle, and I will find the money. You may go as 
hi('"h as one hundred antl fift>- dollars; hut be sure sou ha\e tin- 
best seat." 

So Jimmie, with that amount of moni\- in his pocket, bid off 
the " upper seat in the synagogue." 1 think he paid om- himdn-d 
and thirt)' dollars. Of course his while brethren were glad to ^rll 



30 REMINISCENCES. 

the i)c\v, as now it would be let at a reasonable jjiice, to some 
one of the church not able to bu\- it. Mr. De Garino had seen to it 
that the wife and all the seven children were in good trim for 
church on Sunda\' ; hats and shoes foi^ the childriMi, a new bonnet 
and shawl for the wife, and all sent to church in projier order. 
Instead of taking the negro pew, Mr. Jimmie walketl up the 
aisle, followed by his entire family, — nine, all told. Tlie con- 
sternation was as dreadful as though the dark cloud had been a 
western cyclone. The sexton went to the pew and told the owner 
that he must leave with his famih% and take a back seat ; but the 
occupant refused to be disturbed. He had bought the seat and 
paid for it, and he refused to leave it. The services were gotten 
through with as soon as possible, the principal members held a 
consultation, and the minister told the negro that if he persisted 
in occup}-ing that seat, it would prove him itncliristian, as a true 
Christian was humble, m hile he was manifestly very proud. The 
negro and his family left the church, fulh^ convinced that that 
churcli, at least, was a sham, and that he, for the future, would 
worship outside a Baptist church. 

I went to Battle Creek and vicinit\-, but ever)-where Spiritual- 
ism was in the ascendant, and no one cared much for the slave. I 
do not remember that we (I had now joined another agent) were 
violently assailed in Michigan, but in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, 
we were constantK' in jeopardy. On the Ohio River the spirit 
of slavery was as strong on the north as the south side. At 
one place pepper or tobacco would be put upon the sto\e. the 
perpetrators of the infam)- having first fastened down the win- 
dows, so that it was impossible to raise them. Our carriage 
would be bereft of one wheel, or the harness cut ; sometimes the 
horse would be shorn of mane or tail, and the carriage fdled with 
night-soil, or rotten eggs. 

liiit such things were as nothing to an ass.iull upon us intli\id- 
uall}'. A mob of infiniated im-n can be compared to nothing but 
themselves. Stones, brick-bats, antl addled eggs are the weapons, 
and a tar-kettle and pillow of feathers were the most to be 
drc idi-d. I fortunately escapetl the last, though I \va\v smelKil 
the tar, and seen the bag containing the feathers. And whom do 
you suppose were the leader;-, in these riots ? Al\\a\s ministers, 
or leadc-rs of llu.' l^epublican part)'. I )o you not see the logic of 
the fact ? W'e showed conclusivel\- that the Church was tlu- " l)ul- 



REMINISCENCES. ^ , 

wark of slavery " ; that the holdiiiL,^ of slaves was never a hindrance 
to. Church fellowship, but Abolitiouism was often a cause of dis- 
fcIlcnvsJiip. And the new political party was not f<Mul of bein«^r 
told that the\- were the power that held in bondage four millions 
of men, women and children. The Fugitive Slave Law was at 
this time in full operation, and the officers of the law, whether of 
one party or the other, were required to act, and we were not 
slow in giving them the name ap[)ropriate to their business, blood- 
Jionuds of and for the South. 

A curious little incident which, without much meaning, made 
a good laugh for the time being. I am tempted to relate. The- 
odore Parker was .speaking to a large and enthusiastic audience 
in Rochester, N. Y., a short time ..fter the pa.ssage of the Fugi- 
tive Slave Law by Congress. Mr. Parker drev/ from his pocket a 
large hand-bill, advertising a runaway negro — the negro repre- 
sented by a grotesque figure — and written upon the bill, addressed 
to Mr. Parker, some insulting language. As Mr. P. said " we of 
the North arc commanded to become blood-hounds," a large dog 
lying just in front of the platform, arose and howled forth his 
indignation. He seemed furious, but Mr. Parker, in (i winning, 
appeasing voice, said : " No, no, not a respectable, four-legged 
dog like you ; they are the two-legged ones that are meant ! " 
The dog whined out his approval, and became quiet ; but the 
audience was some time in regaining its composure. 

We had an antislavery dog in Salem, Ohio, who made his 
home in the office of the Antislavery Ihis^Ie. No one knew where 
he came from, but he was persistent, and when one of the agents 
was sent out into some new field, the dog would go also ; aiul 
when such agent was well settled in a fricndl)- home, the dog 
would return to Salem. This dog has more than once been 
my traveling companion. I don't know what became of him ; 
perhaps he lived to be emancij^ated from his work, when the 
slaves were no longer chattels, but, like many a hero of those 
days, his worth is more likely not much remembered. 

At a place in Ohio, so near Virginia that j'ou could almost 
hear the chains rattle, we found one of the Union churches, and 
a good Abolition family in comfortable condition, to entertain us. 
We made our appointments, and with our friends proceciied to 
the house. There was a full attendance, ami very turbulent. The 
minister, who was a resident, and used the house w hen not en- 



32 REMINISCENCES. 

gaged, was, I think. l'resb\'terian, but not very outrageous in his 
language. He was an old man, and age doesn't always enjoy a 
fight ; but we could feci there were to be demonstrations of 
hostility. 

The meeting-house was surrounded on three sides b\' a large 
corn-field, — and Western corn grows very tall. Mr. Foss, who 
was then at work with me, .said to me: "The rioters art" in that 
corn-field, and will throw their missiles, whatever they are, from 
behind those high corn-stalks. If by good management we can 
get by that field before they are aware that we have left the 
house, we shall escape their blows." Mr. Foss was a large man, 
and very strong. I was a little woman then, not weighing more 
than a child of twelve. While our friends were busy trj^ing to 
defend us by their words (the house was only lighted b}' a few 
candles), we quietly slipped out. Mr. Foss took me upon his hip 
and ran past the corn, and we were out of sight ; but as the crowd 
came out, we could plainly hear the hurrah, and " here they come," 
shouted. Then the eggs were thrown in great abundance. The 
poor old minister was covered with the vile-smelling things, which 
were intended for us. Our friends, supposing that we were some- 
where in the house, prolonged their stay in searching for us, and 
so they escaped the anointing, and the rioters were complctcl}- 
foiled. We were not always so fortunate. 

Not very far from this place we had a somewhat similar tri- 
umph, ihc rioters were too pious to profane their church, and 
so made their attack on us at the house where we were enter- 
tained. The weather was mild and the door leading to the street 
was open. I had been sitting exactly opposite the open door, 
but getting a little cold, I had just placed mj' chair back of the 
door, when there came a shower of eggs that made the air thi(?k 
for a time. None hit inc. nor Mr. i'^oss, but tlu'ir townsman, 
our host, was completely covered. The ne.xt da)' was election, 
and (jur host appeared at the pf)lls with his garb all besmeared, 
telling his fellow-townsmen what it cost in our reputedl)'-free 
country to try to maintain free speech. 

Ohio at this time was very pro-slavery, notwithstanding it had 
the Oberlin ( ollege, where colored students were received c(iuall)- 
with white ones. 

In another county of the Slati-, whicii was blessed w ith a school 
where Methoilist ministers were manufactured, we found .m open- 



REMINISCENCES. 33 

ing for a series of meetings. There was in the sanu- ti)\\ii that 
held the school, one of the Union houses, and a few men and 
women who did not believe in slaver}- sent us an invitation to 
come; providing us wath a home while we should stay. As .soon 
as it was known that the friends of the slave were in that region, 
the president of the school and the professors immediately opened 
a " four days meeting," occupying the house, morning, noon and 
night, or, more properly speaking, three and four sessions each 
day. I was in no hurry, and so concluded to stay and atteiul 
their meeting. I was not a welcome visitor, but I enjoyed the 
meeting. God was often informed of my presence, and told of 
my hostility to Him and His earthly Church, and the people were 
informed repeatedly that the Methodist Church North had cut 
itself entirely loose from all connection with slavery. The meet- 
ing held its four days, and still the Abolitionist was there. Nei- 
ther threats nor prayers had any effect upon my stay. I came to 
hold a meeting to plead for those who were not allowed to plead 
their own cause, and I could afford to wait their time. Another 
day was added to the four, and still another. The people were 
getting weary, and finally the president amiounced that the ne.xt 
session would close up the series. 

The people in this closing meeting were urged to pa}^ no at- 
tention to any meeting that should be called b)' me, sax'ing that 
the attendance on such a meeting would be an affair that wouKl 
call for action, and perhaps excommunication from the Cluircli. 
At last the blessing was pronounced, and on the instant I arose 
and said I would now open another /r^^/^v/r/^v/ meeting. I could 
not say whether it would continue four days, or twice four days, 
but that it would hold long enough to give me time to prove the 
falsehood of most of the assertions that they or we had heard 
made. The minister interrupted me by begging the audience to 
leave, covimanding those of the school. Most of the people left, 
but they stopped at the door, and looked in at the windows; hut 
at last curiosity triumphed, and they all came back, and the min- 
ister with them. I stepped to the front of the platform and saiil 
to the president of the school, " Will you do me the favor to lend 
me your Church Discipline a few minutes?" " No, I will not ! " 
said he; "and I make a request, that no one in the house will 
lend the 7Voi)ian one." I said, " I will not hurt the book; I would 
think any one of you would grant such a fivor. ' Hut not one of 



34 REMINISCENCES. 

them dared to do it. We talk about Roman Catliolic Pope.^-^ ; 
1 liave seen popes — alas! that it is so — even among Frcctfnukcrs. 
After I had tried nry powers of persuasion awhile with no success, 
1 drew from xwy pocket a new Church Discipline, and holding it 
up I said, " I have been acquainted with Methodists some time, 
and judging you from what I have seen, I expected to be refused 
the use of the book, and so obtained one ; if an\' of you think it 
is not a bona, fide affair. I will let you examine it ; but }'()u must 
first swear that you will return it to nic. I can't afford to send 
to New York for another cop}-." 

I wish I could paint for you the faces of those Methodist 
Christians. They knew that h\- that book I would ]M-ove false all 
their assertions concerning non-complicity with slavery. The 
Methodist "Church North" did not leave the "Church South"; 
it was the " Church South " that left the North, and the " Church 
North " begged them not to leave, and some of their Conferences 
did remain with them ; and at that time, according to the records 
of their own book, there were more than three hundred thousand 
slaves owned by members of the Northern Church. This all 
the intelligent ministers knew. But at that time there was great 
illiteracy among even the ministers of that Church. It a man 
could speak loud enough, and pray long enough, and shout with 
sufficient fervor, he had the principal requisite for the ministerial 
office. I think in all my speaking, I never did more etfecti\'e 
work in one series of meetings, than in that place. The members 
of the Church were some of them roused to indignation ; the\' 
felt that the)' had been imposed ui)on by their leaders, and their 
e\'es were opened to see for themselves. 

The next meeting which we held was even more turbulent than 
this. The demonstrations were so violent, and seemed so mur- 
derous, that the gentleman who had kindlx' taken us in his car- 
riage to the place of meeting, became so thoroughl\- alarmed that 
he begged me to escape with him from the window back of the 
l^latform. I said " No! I came to speak, and these are the peo- 
ple that need the word. I will not ask you to sta)-. ' lie said, 
" If yf)U are so fool-hartly, )'on must not blame me if I lea\e \ ou. 
I said, " Not at all — go ! " and looking as white as a riputrd ghos-t. 
he let himself out of the window, and was gone 1 h i\e never 
seen him since, nor do I e\i'n remember his nann- II \ou think 
he was cowardl)', remember that a mob is not a pleasant thing to 



REMINISCENCES. :;,; 

face. I was more safe without than with him, and, as the sequel 
proved, went awa}- unharmed. The tar-kettle was there, as, also, 
the feathers; but they were not used, tliough the three {profes- 
sional men of the village, — the Reverend, the Doctor, and the 
Lawyer, tried tlieir best to spur the crowd on to the sport. My 
voice did me good service that evening in soothing those bois- 
terous spirits. I obtained three subscribers for the [Jbcrator (Mr. 
Garrison's paper), made friends enough to take me home with 
them, and take care of me until the time to leave the place. 

I did not suffer much in those dreadful times, — at least I did 
not realize the suffering, — but to-day, when I feel my nerves so 
shattered, that to speak a half hour I am ol:)liged to sit, and to 
walk a half mile I must have the strong arm of some friend, I 
know that such excitement is always paid for at last; but I am 
not sorry for the work done, even though I feel the cost. A race 
redeemed, — even the little that I did towards it is a memorj' like 
a benediction. It is not always what we accomplish that is the 
personal blessing; it is what we tr\' to do. 

About this time there was appointed by the American 
Home Society, an agent from Massachusetts, who evidentl\- felt 
that lie should be able, b)- his extreme watchfulness, to guard 
against any vulgar gossip or libelous report, such as some of the 
agents had been obliged to encounter. This was a good man, — 
no better than the other men wlio had been emplo\'ed, — but he 
had the faculty of making those with whom he was associated 
feel very uncomfortable. He was appointed to travel and liold 
meetings with me, and the most uncomfortable six weeks I spent 
that year was while with him. 

He seemed to have no idea of propriety in regard to the treat- 
ment of the people who opened their houses to us without charge. 
He commanded them as he would a servant at a hotel, where he 
would be charged heavily for attentions. 

I have as yet said nothing of the homes of the West, thirt\- 
or forty years ago; but I am now where it will be cjuite in order 
to describe some of them, and in connection with my traveling 
associate. The houses were many of them log, and divided into 
one large rooni and two small bed-rooms. Sometimes there was 
no division, but a loft, which was reached b}- a ladiler. One 
would not expect to find many of the luxuries, nor even neces- 
sities of modern life, as furniture, in such houses. A wash-bow 1 



^6 REMINISCENCES. 

and pitcher had never been seen in many of these homes, and 
towels were indeed a hixury. I was a guest in one house where 
the children, some of them twelve years of age, had never seen a 
mirror. 

Our Eastern friend, when shown to his resting-place, alwa}'s 
informed the host that he must have water in Ids room, and two 
towels. A woman's consternation at such a demand can be imag- 
ined ; but I could have forgiven him even the demand for tzvo 
towels, if he only would have gotten up in the morning, and eaten 
his breakfast with the famil}', in season for the father to take 
his children to school, and get about his own business. I tried 
calling him, until I learned better, as his inv^iriable answer was, 
when I told him breakfast was ready, " Eat it, then." I have 
seen the wife and mother break down and cry with perplexit}'. 

In one of our first meetings 1 said, in referring to some remark 
he had made, " My brother said," He immediately announced 
(to the audience) that he was not my brother — a fact that I never 
forgot, but invariably spoke of him as Mr. , from Massachu- 
setts. He did not mean any insidt by this denial, but to l)e cir- 
cumspect in word and deed. 

In the anecdote which I have made this long preparation to 
relate, you will see that circumspection will not always keep one's 
name from libelous rei)ort, as in all my public life no libel was 
ever quite so infamous as the one connecting m}' name and this 
same person's together. I was not sorry that it was he, and not 
an()iher; but I will proceed. We liad a meeting aj)pointcd fi\e 
miles from where we had found a liomc, three sessions on Sunda\'. 
with one for the evening previous. Our host had an open wagon 
and a horse, the use of which he tendered us for the meeting. 
Ikit when the morning came, it brought one of the most violent, 
disagreeable storms of the season. The heav\' rain liccamc sleet 
in its fall, and the wind was piercing. Our host had neither buf- 
falo robes nor any otlier covering for us — just the open \\agon. 
When we had taken our seats, our kind hostess, who was at the 
door, said: "Mrs. Colman will perish — stop a minute. vShe went 
to lier bed, took off what we used to call a cox-crlct (a home-made- 
spread), and Iln' luisl)and came to the wagon and wrapped 
it about our lajjs. In going t*^ our meeting we passc-d the jxist- 
office, and Mr. got out of the wagtm and went in. I discov- 
ered, standing in the office, one of the important men of the 



{ 



REMINISCENCES. 37 

town, a man of vvealth, and a deacon of the church. He had 
persistently denied us the use of the church, and we had found it 
very difficult to find an opening in his neighborhood. We went 
on to our appointment, neither of us speaking to the other for 
the entire five miles. I was trying to be circumspect. The next 
day, after the close of the series of meetings, we returned, stop- 
ping again at the post-office. I discovered the same man in the 
door. We had the coverlet over our laps, as when we went. 

A short time after this we were separated. I was sent into 
another county, and my brother, the agent, went in the opposite 
direction. After awhile I received a most doleful letter from a 
friend of the cause,— a man who was well-to-do, and had enter- 
tained me most hospitably,— saying : " What does it mean ? It 

is the common talk that you and Mr. were found under the 

same bed-cover twice." I was too much amused for the moment 
to be angry. Here was my immaculate friend, who had avoided 
being evtMi polite to me, accused of very strange conduct, for a 
morS man, and with me, whom he had told repeatedly that the 
agents were so careless in their conduct, that they gave cause for 
talk. I immediately wrote to my doleful correspondent, " 'Tis 
true , nevertheless, because true, the greater the libel. Get a 
hall, by paying largely, if necessary, and appoint a meeting next 
Sunday. Advertise it so thoroughly that all who have heard the 
slander shall know that I am coming." He did as I requested, 
and the crowd was so great that they felt it best to put braces 
under the floor, lest it should yield to the weight. 

When I reached the place on Saturday, I sent a letter to the 
deacon, stating that if he wished to avoid a lawsuit, he would 
come to my meeting the following day, and settle the matter, or 
I should put the case into a lawyer's hands on the day after. He 
came. I had sent to another part of the State, asking A. T. Foss, 
whom I had traveled with a good deal in the work, and who was 
a very " Boanerges," to come and help me. He answered by his 
presence promptly. We had a meeting that all who attended 
will, I am sure, always remember ; and the contemptible Christian 
man attempted to excuse himself by saying that he said it in a 
joke. He asked how I would settle. I said, " You will put ycur 
name to that paper, which says you will never again speak evil of 
a woman whom you know nothing evil of. I want none of your 
money; there are wrongs that money cannot cure; 'your money 



38 REMINISCENCES. 

perish with you.'" This was the only slander I ever paid any 
attention to. It was too good a chance to humiliate the author 
to let pass. 

The above are some of the experiences of an Abolitionist 
woman, trying to work for a race who were suffering the horrors 
of cliattel slavery. Christian people of all creeds were making 
special efforts to raise money, to send missionaries to convert the 
heathen to Christianity, while in several States of our Union, — 
Christian States, — it was a crime, punishable with death, for a 
woman with a skin showing African blood, to raise her hands in 
defense of her chastity, even, against her white Christian master, 
and in our Northern States, like Ohio, all manner of indignities 
were put upon us; but when a person is fully baptized into a 
work for humanity, indignities are of no ax'ail. 

Before I leave Ohio, I think I will introduce the reader to some 
persons, not because of their opinions upon slavery, but to show 
the dreadful ignorance which then existed upon social matters ; 
and which perhaps is not very far advanced in enlightenment 
t(j-day. At one of our meetings — or rather at the close of a meet- 
ing — we were informed that we would be hospitabK' entertained 

at the house of a Mr. L , some four miles awa}-, and a person 

in the house would take us to the same. On arrixing at Mr. 

L 's we found a good house and cordial reception. The host 

was a man, I should think, perhaps sixty years old, with a second 
wife of probably fifty years. The wife was very inferior to the 
husband, antl had married, as man\' another W(,)man has, for the 
sake of a home, and found that the home cost much more than 
it was worth. 

Mr. L- was very communicative, and soon gave me his his- 
tory, lie, with his former wife (both from Massachusetts), were 
members of the l'resb\'terian C liuieli, and during a ie\i\al in the 
town, which was where he was then living, the wife l)ecMme sti 
e.xcited. fearing that her children would be sent to hell, that she 
cut the thrcxits of twoul them, — the third one w.is old enoUL^h 
to bnak awa)' from hei", and saved his life. This wile was con- 
fmed some time in an asylum, a maniac ; but the ("hurcli coukl 
not have the name of a muiderer on tluir books, and so the\' ex- 
eonnnunicated her. The husband thru withdiew his name. 
When the poor cra/.ed wnni.m becauii- (.aim, the husbaiul took 
her home, and caused lu r {<> vjAe birth, .it three diKerent times, 



REMINISCENCES. 39 

to ii child — the first, a girl (the step-mother told me her depravity 
was beyond description), was idiotic, thoui^di not entirely without 
sense. She would wander off and become the victim of some 
masculine demon, and had already been delivered of a child, too 
much deformed to live. Following" her birth, a son was born, 
more than half a fool, but not given to licentiousness. Then a 
third son was born — an entire idiot. 

As this man told me of these things, I was so aroused that I 
said, " You permitted yourself to be the father of three idiotic 
children, by a woman who had been driven mael by the cruelty of 
her religious creed ! " " Why," said he, " she was harjiiless, and 
she was my WIFe!" I wondered in my heart if he had learned 
that definition of wifehood from his Bible: "Wives, be obedi- 
ent," etc. The eldest son controlled the property. The two idiotic 
sons had a home with him, and the daughter wandered a vaga- 
bond upon the face of the earth. 

The second wife, a widow with a daughter, had married ex- 
pecting in that way to make a home for herself and child, but 
found no place for her child, hardly for herself. Will some one tell 
me if wifehood, when it means, as it did in her case, legal prosti- 
tution, is less degrading than when a mother goes upon the street 
and yields herself to a stranger, who as yet has not disgusted her 
by long years of such brutality ? Alas ! that woman does not yet 
own her own physical body. 

One more anecdote of Ohio customs thirty years ago : A con- 
vention was to be held at Crestline. The railroacis had just been 
opened through, and a dei)ot built. The Western Abolitionists 
owneil a commodious tent, which was transported to the place. 
A number of the more distinguished lecturers from Massachusetts 
were there to be in attendance, and, as was expected, a large 
crowd gathered, the new railroad facilities making it easy to reach 
the place. I arrived early in the morning of the opening day of 
the meeting. A gentleman met me at the depot, and, on ascer- 
taining that I was Mrs. Colman, said that I was ttj be entertained 
at his house. On entering the house 1 was met by a young lad}' 
with whom I had become acquainted the year previous, in Mich- 
igan. She came to me w ith outstretched arms, threw iheni about 
my neck, and burst into a fit of violent weeping. 1 at length 
succeeded in soothing her, so that she told me iier grief. She 
was a resident of Philadelphia, and had been spending a )ear 



40 REMINISCENCES. 

with her uncle in the West. In that time she had become en- 
gaged to a young man (the brother of her' uncle's wife) who was 
accompanying her home, to make the acquaintance of her famih'. 
As both families were very active, distinguished Abolitionists, the 
young couple had taken in the Convention on their way. Thc)' 
had been met on their arrival, at Crestline, and invited to this 
house, and given, for the night, one room with /zcv beds, with just 
space to walk between the beds. I said, " You pour foolish child ! 
You are crying because you have stayed for a night w ith people 
so unsophisticated, that they had no idea that chaste, pure people 
required bolts and bars to keep them from wronging each other. 
Wipe your eyes; there is no need of crying because you have 
been entirely trusted by people who did not know you ; but what 
is of much greater consequence to you, you have proved your 
lover's character to be unblemished, under temptation." That 
da)' the house was so filled that the two beds were made into 
one, and five persons occupied the little room, which had been a 
cell of suffering and mortification to my little lady on the first 
night of her arrival. 

I cannot leave this part of Ohio without recording a case of 
" woman's wrongs " (a cousin of mine charged me to keep out of 
my " Reminiscences " any reference to " woman's rights "). I am 
troubled to find " woman's rights," so much of " woman's wrongs" 
come up to my memory. I saw no appearance of the getting 
ready to attend the meeting by our hostess, and so ventured to 
say, "Are you not going?" " How can you ask? The house 
full, dinner to get for the crowd, two babies, the oldest not a year 
older than the youngest, and already heavy with another, — can 
you think I have time, or wish to go?" I said, "Have )-ou no 
hell)?" She said, "Yes, my sister is here to take care of the 
children to-day. O, go and talk about your slaves' wrongs, aiul 
if you can find one as much a slave as myself, both night and da)', 
1 hope you will pity her." 1 said, "Will you let me help you 
to-day? Let me plan for you ; give us just st)mc bread and but- 
ler at noon, and I w ill help you to get the dinner after the after- 
noon session." .She said she feared her husband would not like 
it. 1 ^„ii(l " Leave him to me. I am to speak to-day. and I shall 
have something to say to him. and I wish )'ou to hear it." The 
sister joined me in persuasions, and the poor woman went to the 
meeting. I found my tongue unloosed, and said quite as much 



1 



REMINISCENCES. 41 

for oppressed wifehood, as for the chattel slave. I have never 
seen the family sinfce. 

Chaplain Piiotius Fisk. 

I have often queried in my own mind, if the readers of the 
Freethinkers' Magazine, Tnitli-Sccker, Investigator, etc., have 
any idea of this man Photius Fisk, and how much we are all indebted 
to him for his generous help, whenever any call is made for money 
for any worthy object. If a meeting of the Secular Society is 
called, and aid is solicited to pay expenses, you will always, or 
"almost always," sec opposite his name $10.00 given. Is a Lib- 
eral sick or aged, and without means of support, }'ou may expect 
to find a monthly donation from this same man, that shall kcej) 
the " wolf from the door." Thus much I know, as I have seen his 
subjects, and found them quite near home. Does some one wish 
to put in print something that the Liberals ought to know, Mr. 
Fisk's purse is opened, and a donation made for that cause. I 
know a woman who worked hard in the Antislavery times for the 
slave, and is still in the South teaching among the freed people, 
who finds her work much lighter from her acquaintance with this 
generous man. And the freed people, with whom her daily work 
is done, are always remembered, with barrels of food, once at least 
every year. 

Does some Abolitionist die, who suffered torture and impris- 
onment at the hands of the slaveholders, like Captain Jonathan 
Walker, of the " branded hand," Mr. Fisk originates and pays for 
an appropriate monument, sends it to the burial-place, and has it 
• placed upon the grave. I do not know how many stones he has 
thus erected, but I know of three. I think he owns a thousand 
dollars' worth of shares in Paine Hall, and a munificent donation 
of valuable pictures, gathered from all parts of the world, are 
already occupying the walls of some of the rooms in that me- 
morial building. But this does not tell my readers who this 
remarkable man is. I am about to tell you who, so far as I am 
able to do so, Mr. Fisk is. 

I have before me a Missionary Herald o^ i(S22, given me by 
Mr. Fisk himself, while making him a short visit in the summer 
of 1886. I asked him to tell me something about himself, and 
he gave me this book, which says he was a native Greek, b}' name 
Photius Kavasales. That he is the only one of his family that 



42 REMINISCENCES. 

escaped death (in Smyrna) from plague, which ravaged the coun- 
tr}' in 1 8 14. Father, mother, four brothers and sisters — two each. 
Mis age is a disputed matter, one writer making it ten, another 
twelve, while his uncle, who then had him in charge (1822), calls 
him sixteen years of age, and says that he was born in Hydra. 
This Missionary Herald contains a report of a conversation held 
with this young Greek boy, in reference to being sent abroad by 
his uncle,- with some missionary. The writer says: "When I 
asked him if lie would like to go to America, liis eyes sparkled 
with. joy. I asked why he wished to go. He said, 'To learn.' 
' How long are you willing to remain ? ' 'Till I am learned.' I 
named several branches, and asked if he could learn all these. 
He answered modestly, ' Quanta posso — as much as I can.' The 
boy speaks Maltese, and reads and speaks Greek and Italian." 
The above is taken from a letter dated Malta, Oct. 12, 1822, and 
signed Pliny Fisk. He, it seems, took, or was given the name of 
Fisk, perhaps by Mr. Fisk's desire. He was put under the care 
of the Rev. Mr. Cornelius, of Salem, Mass. So much I take 
from the Missionary Herald. 

I think ]\Tr. Fisk was first sent to a Mission School, in Corn- 
wall, Conn., but not quite liking the strictness of the rules, and 
showing an inclination to have his own wa\', he was removed to 
Amherst, Mass., the college there being in its infanc)\ Mr. Fisk 
was not inclined to follow out the rules of the Amherst school, 
and finally was sent back to Malta. He then worked his wax- 
back to America, took his education into his own hands, became 
quite learned, and finally having been converted was ordained a 
Christian minister, and for a time preached in Vermont. 

Mr. Pillsbury, in a short sketch which I find in an account of 
"The Man with the Branded Hand," says of Mr. Fisk-: "The 
severities of the winters in Northern Vermont were toc^ much for 
his constitution ; he being of a race born, and for man\' genera- 
tions living, under so much more indulgent skies, he soon became 
unable to discharge the many duties and responsibilities of a min- 
ister, especially so far north as Vermont." 

Mr. Pillsbury also says: " In his travels he had seen much of 
Slavery, both in this countr)' and the West Indies, and had be- 
come too much of an iAbolitionist to be tolerated in an .\merican 
puii)it. " 

In 1842 Mr. I'isk received the appointment of Chaplain in the 



REMINISCENCES. 43 

United States Navy, which he still holds, though retired from ac- 
Uve service. On my table is a plrotograph of Lhaplan, F,sk. 
akenin Malta some years ago. I am always asked who the p,c- 
u,re represents, and am immediately told, " That person, wl>oever 
r s must be good : what a benevolent face." AU of winch ,s 
;, He did not forget, though on another contment when the 
Jr at fires occurred in Chicago and Boston, to telegraph to Wen- 
Sell Phillips,who had charge of his funds: " Do as I would do_ 
M Fisk wa- never married, and having no imnted.ate fam.ly, he 
selms to have adopted the poor, and especially the oppressed and 
down-trodden, as his to care for and comfort ^hanlain 

I have never met a more pronounced /.,&r«/ than Chap am 
Fisk He has n6 patience with anything maniby pamby m the- 
Igy, but is thoroughly outspoken and candid. / >-e been 
ofte^n asked by the readers of Liberal papers, Who ,s he 
Photius Fisk who is so liberal a contributor to funds called fo, . 
[have answered as well as I know: but have no doubt he ,s 
nrore remarkable in that I ,/. not know ">- ™"^: / /",,^^ "^ 
seems to follow the scriptural injuncfor^s : " T^ke ^-d^hat yc 
do not your alms before men to be seen of them. Let not 

your left hand know what your right hand doeth. 

After leaving Ohio I went to Indiana and llhno.s. Very htt e 
AnS lavery woTk had ever been done in Indiana, and the people 
we too sLpkl to be easily aroused. I had suffered al the nrcon- 
:::>::::, se^mmgly, of westem life, but the half had .u>t been 
told. A sample of the hotels may be amus.ng. / f°- "• " "y 
room a bed, and a broken chair,-no article whatever fo, the 
oilet. This was to be put up with without -T f-s, where^we 
were given the best they had, ■' without money and w.thout p ,ce 
but in a hotel, which had a large swinging s,gn, on wluch was 
painted, in bright-colored letters. " Preserve the Un.on and 
where 1 paid one dollar per day for accommodations, I felt hke 
demanding a little more, and so asked for water, m some vessel 
my room, for a bath in the morning. Quite late,-so la e that 
was already dressed, despairing of the "ath,-! was confro ed 
by a man, with what they used to call n, Massachusetts a sk.llet, 
with a eood quart of water. ^^cc ■ ■ 

This skillet was an iron vessel with three legs, or feet, d.ffer ng 
from w-hat is called a kettle in the form of its handle : ms ead o 
a bail it had a straight har.dle on one side. Th.s one wouUl hold 



44 REMINISCENCES. 

about three pints. The reason of the dehiy, I was informed, was 
that this skillet had to be used to cook the meat in for breakfast, 
and, besides, the towel liad to be washed and ironed, a proof of 
which was, the towel was warm from ironing. 

In Ohio I was elected to travel at one time, for two or three 

weeks, with a Dr. B . He was then a resident of the State, 

though his native State was Delaware. I have heard of awkward 
people, but it has been my fortune to meet but one, and that one 
was this Doctor. All other awkwardness becomes- gracefulness, 
when I think of him. He drove his own horse, a beast that well 
represented his owner, I had no trouble with mobs, while under 

Dr. B 's escort. Perhaps " those fellows of the baser sort," 

judging us by our carriage, horse and ourselves, thought we were 
"hale fellows," in search of a job of their kind, and did not wish 
to disturb our equipment. I traveled in that vehicle three weeks, 
and in the many, many times that my driver stepped into his car- 
riage, I do not rememember once that he did not step with his 
entire weight onto me. If by great adroitness I saved my feet, 
by getting them entirely under the scat, down would come his 
entire person onto my lap, but he was perfectl}' oblivious to any 
trouble. He was always well satisfied with himself and all our 
accommodations. 

Let me describe one of the homes to which he took me, where, 
as it proved, it was a favorite stopping-place of his. We had 
started from one of our homes in the early morning, in a violent 
rain, as it was Saturday, and we were to hold a Convention on the 
Sunday following. When we came in sight of this house, the 
Doctor said, " That's the place." It was a white cottage, with 
green blinds, a front-yard fence and shrubbery, which really 
looked inviting. As we drove to the door a young woman opened 
it with a hearty good-morning, saying, "Come in ; you must be 
very wet." Now, if I could only use a brush, I could paiiU \ou 
a picture worth looking at, for nudity in a picture is not objec- 
tionable ; neither are rags, as they are sometimes preferable to 
fashionable attire. Hut in these days of Comstock rule, a l''ree- 
tliiukcr's work is closely watched. 

This woman might have been thirt)' \'ears of age. She was 
really beautiful. IKr skin was clear, red and white, licjuid gray 
eyes, her teeth like pearls, and her chestnut hair so glossy that 
you could easily imagine it a mirror. But the dress, or the un- 



REMINISCENCES. 45 

dress, — she had evidently been giving her baby its natural nour- 
ishment, for her bust was entirely uncovered. Her arms, a model 
for a sculptor, were equally bare with her bosom, as the sleeves to 
her garment hung in shreds. We went into the house; the odor 
was choking. Two babies were in a long cradle ; one might have 
been a year older than the other. I presume they were washed 
when they first came into the world, but there was nothing 
at that time to lead one to suppose the bath had ever been 
repeated. 

As the Doctor came in, after putting his horse in the stable, 
he washed his hands in a hollow stone at the door. The lady 
said her towel was on the grass, as she only washed the day be- 
fore. The hands were shaken, and held to the fire to dry, — a 
large open fire-place. The lady was not at all embarrassed at the 
lack of a towel. She was well informed, no lack of books and 
papers, and all the Antislavery papers were in sight. When this 
woman spread her table, she took from the grass a table-cloth, 
and held it to the fire until it ceased to drip, then put it on the 
table. She made for dinner what a Yankee would call " flapjacks,'' 
a kind of wafifie. The knife she gave me to use would have 
been greatly benefited had it been on the grass with the table- 
cloth through the night's rain. 

This lady was a teacher from Vermont. A well-to-do widower 
had married her. Five children in less than eight years Ifad 
blessed \\\c \\w\o\\. No skill as a housekeeper, — the rest is easily 
imagined. 

At another hotel, where I arrived in the middle of the da)', 
I was met by the daughter of the house, a nice-looking girl, if 
only she had been comfortably clean. Her feet were bare, and 
they, with her ankles, might have been washed sometime. I 
would not say they hadn't, but they were certainly in need of a 
bath then. 

I asked for a room, making no further demand, only that 
the bed should be clean. As I sat down, I drew my watch from 
its hiding-place (I always wore it out of sight) when this young 
lady, with the greatest astonishment in her tone, said: "What 
was that great yellow thing you took out of your bosom ? " I 
had no idea what she meant, but finally learned it was my watch, 
and that she had never before seen one. In the course of the 
day she brought all her friends, whom she could reach, to see the 



46 REMINISCENCES. 

wonder. But the room (which she announced was as clean as it 
could be)! I was obliged to leave the bed and rest in a chair, 
for though the one sheet (which, as the young lady said, was all 
she ever heard of putting onto a bed at a time), was clean, there 
were more living creatures about the bed than I could comfort- 
ably sleep with. 

Such were some of the hotels in the west forty, and even 
thirty, years ago. I was in Indiana at the time of a crusade 
against saloons, where alcohol in its many stages, and under as 
many different names, was sold to whoever applied for it. I 
think the name of the town was Richmond, where the traged)- 1 
am about to record was enacted. The eldest son of a widow, a 
boy who had just entered his teens, had paid for a drink, and 
then been treated to more by the proprietor and the regular fn- 
quenters of the saloon. He drank until he was dead (\x\\x\V, and 
so entirely dead that no effort could call back life. A }'oung 
lady, as 1 remember her, nineteen or twenty years of age,^ — 
Amanda Way, — planned, and was chief actor in, the plot. She, 
with the mother of the dead boy, led a procession of women, 
armed with axes, hammers and hatchets, told the several proprietors 
they would purchase all the litjuors in their possession, and then 
proceeded to break everything, from bottles to barrels, empt}ing 
the contents onto the ground. Some of the men who kept these 
places, took pay for their liquors, and promised to quit the lous- 
iness; others refused, sued Captain Way, as she was called (I 
don't know if others were sued), and the case was tried by a court 
of Dii'H (no mother nor sister in the jury box); the damages were 
thirty dollars (a light award, the judge said, because of the 
tobacco, logwood, and other drugs, that turned tlu- whisk)- inti> 
brand)'. 

In Illinois, in the nortlu'iii counties, Spiiitualism was again in 
the way of work. All the places usiiall)' opt'iied to K'ctui'es were 
prefjccupied b)' .Spiritualists, and heaven in another world was a 
greater temptation than a free countr)' here and now. Our \\xo- 
gress was about tlie same as in Indiana. ( )iir nu-etings weie dis- 
turbc-d, as usual, though in Chicago we had ([uite iaigt- meetings, 
and no mobs. 

In Whiteside count)', the northwestern count), we were 
enlertainetl ri;.;lit io)-,dl\- !))■ a man lormerl)- from New N'ork, 
Jaccjb I'owell, and Ins good housekeeper (now his wife). lie 



REMINISCENCES. 47 

planned our meetings for a month, taking us to them with his 
own team, and returning us to his hospitable home. I can never 
forget the little delicate attentions which are so grateful to a 
woman, away from home, battered and worn by, I think, worse 
" beasts " than St. Paul fought at Ephesus, that this woman was 
constantly bestowing upon me ; and not only little attentions, but 
large, everything for our comfort. And then we were made wel- 
come for a life-time, if we had accepted the offer. 

While stopping with Mr. Powell, there came in our way a tre- 
mendous freshet in Rock River. The bridges were all washed 
away in that region, and we were cut off from our mail, Avhich we 
had ordered sent to Lyndon, the other side of the river. One 
morning, it had been six weeks since letters from home had 
reached me, Mr. Powell announced that he should take me over 
the river that day, as he thought it too much for a mother to 
bear, to wait longer in suspense for news from home. I asked, 
" How will you cross?" He said that some five miles away 
there was a bridge, though several feet under water, still fast. 
That he proposed to go there, and if the bridge failed, his horses 
would swim the river. We had meetings appointed on that side, 
and were in haste to be about our work. Mr. Foss was then 
with me. He had been in the Baptist pulpit twenty-five years, 
and was less afraid of water than of sin, no matter how deep the 
water might run. 

We started in good season, and having reached the place where 
the bridge should be, found nothing of that sort in sight ; but a 
long pole was set up on either side of the river, and one about 
midway, showing the location of the bridge. A man driving the 
mail wagon preceded us, but when he reached the point to drive 
into the water, stopped, and no persuasion of Mr. Powell and Mr. 
Foss combined, could influence him to try the bridge first. He 
said his life was worth just as much to him as the lady's was to 
her (and why wasn't it?), and he would not go first; and so Mr. 
Powell, talking all the time to his horses as though they were hu- 
man, drove them into the water. When they began to swim, 
Mr. Foss told me very cheerfully that if by any accident the 
wagon should be upset, he was strong enough to take me and 
swim to the shore. He stood in the wagon, and I stood on the 
seat, he holding me, that I should not fall ; and though the water 
filled the wagon up to the seat, we reached the other side safelv. 



48 REMINISCENCES. 

as did the mail-driver, also. When we were over, Mr. Powell 
said : " Mrs. Colman, I would not have done that for any one 
but a mother. You have said very little, but your face had be- 
come so anxious, that it was painful to look at it." This was one 
of the experiences of our trip in Illinois. 

Some twenty years before this time, an uncle of mine had em- 
igrated to this State, and settled in a town to which we were at 
that time destined. My uncle and his wife were both deceased, 
but two daughters were living, and very orthodox in their opin- 
ions. My uncle was, or had been, sheriff of the county, post- 
master of the town, and school teacher. He was practically the 
minister, as he had charge of the little society, read printed ser- 
mons to them on Sundays, and led their prayer-meetings during 
the week. He was an excellent man, save his bigotry, and that 
was unparalleled. As an instance, when the postal laws required 
that the mail should be opened on Sunday, he gave up his office 
rather than break the fourth commandment, though he every Sun- 
day made a fire and ate of the food prepared on that day. As 
sheriff he apprehended any one suspected of stealing, even 
though he worshipped as God, Jesus of Nazareth, who expressly 
forbade his followers to deal with the law of revenge. I presume 
the coninianil, " Swear not at all, neither by heaven, for it is 
God's throne, nor by the earth, for it is His footstool," had never 
presented itself to his mind as a command to be strictl}' enforced, 
nor had he ever felt that the office of sheriff was inct)nipatil)le 
with the creed of a Christian. 

We found no helj:) in our work from either of ni)' rclatixes. 
The husl)and of one of my cousins was a Reverend, a graduate 
of Oberlin College; hut 1 do iii)t remember one act of conmion 
courtesy given me b) him or his wife. His was work for tlir 
Lord, not for men. We however held two meetings in L^-ndon. 
and had the use of the church for the purpose. 

Wc crossed the Mississippi, worked a little time in Iowa and 
Wisconsin, meeting with very little opposition and (|uite as little 
success. Returning, we sto[)ped awhile in l\nns\l\'auia, where 
the ignorance of the peojile was ai)palling. ;\t a gathering of 
peoj)le engaged in some mechanical work, Mr. l"\)ss said: "Well, 
ni)' friends, who are }'ou going to ha\e for I'ri'sidciil ." lor whom 
will \'ou vote?" "We don't know; the Inhcii nmn hasn't been 
'round to tell us." At another place-, putting the same question, 



REMINISCENCES. 49 

the answer came, " Giwal Jackson." Being informed by us that 
General Jackson had been dead some years, the speaker seemed 
astonished at our audacity, and answered us that they had ahvays 
voted {ox the Gineral, and that we needn't think we should pre- 
vent them from doing it then. 

I am not making a plea for Woman s Rights in these Reminis- 
cences, but if I were, I think the answers of these men might be 
a good text whereon to base an argument. At one of our ap- 
pointments in Pennsylvania, the agent who was to speak was sick, 
and I was sent for to fill the place. I went, found a crowded 
hall, and not one woman among them. I felt rather troubled to 
be the only one of my sex, but these ignorant men were per- 
fectly respectful, treating me in ever}' respect well. Another ar- 
gument for a Woman's Rights lecture. If one woman could keep 
such a company of coarse men .on their good behavior, what 
might not a goodly number do at the polls, or in the halls of 
Congress, if they went as rightful members of the "body politic," 
rather than Ti?, petted visitors ? 

My memory takes me now back into the State of New York, 
where I worked mostly by myself for a year or two. I went 
through the southern counties, from Buffalo to New York City, 
with varied experiences. At one place a good Christian man, taking 
advantage of my permission, if anyone wished to speak, that the 
meeting was free, rose and said that the speaker was no doubt a 
woman of, to say the least, weak morals, as she entirely ignored 
the commands of the Bible, " uncovering her head, and speaking 
in public," all of which was expressly against the laws of God 
laid down in the Bible. After he had finished his tirade, by say- 
ing he did what he could to prevent my obtaining the house, I 
said, " Have you concluded your speech, sir?" "Yes," he said. 
I then said: " Do you, sir, keep the laws laid down in the Scrip- 
tures of the Old and New Testament ? " He indignantly 
answered: "Of course I do. I am a Christian, and I do not 
wish to be insulted by such a question." I said: " No insult was 
intended, sir. I knew you were a very ignorant man, but I did 
suppose you knew something of the Bible laws in reference to 
your own sex, as you were so familiar with the laws by which I 
should be governed." He seemed astonished at my audacity. I 
then said : " You come into a meeting of mine, and insult me 
with your charges, with )our face as smooth as a woman's; and 



50 REMINISCENCES. 

your Bible says, * Thou shalt not mar the corners of th}* beard ' — 
you have cut yours all off" (this was when it was an offense to the 
Church to wear the full beard). He said, with strong emphasis: 
" There is no such passage or law in the Bible." I said : " Don't 
make your ignorance so apparent. If there were a Bible in the 
house, which there is not, I would read it to you." A man with 
a full beard, the only one in the large audience, said : " I will get 
one," and went out for that purpose. When he returned with 
the book I said : " This is not my book. You can look at it, sir, 
and see that it is the real Bible, if you wish ; " and turning to the 
law I read it, telling them all, chapter and verse, where it was 
found. You can realize that that Christian man was a somewhat 
" -ioiscr, if not better man," when he left that meeting. 

I received a letter from Frederick Douglass about this time, 
introducing to my notice a young colored woman, the daughter 
of a fugitive slave, who showed considerable talent for public 
speaking, asking me if I would take her with me and initiate her 
into the ways of advertising and getting up meetings; saying: 
" It is impossible for me to take her with me, as I am a married 
man, and she is ?i young woman ; and I know of no other speaker 
of whom I can ask such a favor." 

I had my meetings arranged for some weeks, when this request 
reached me, and had received invitations to be the guest in 
homes where they were friendlj' to the cause of emancipation ; 
but I was invited expecting to be alone. To take another w ith 
me was embarrassing, but I felt that I could not refuse, and so 
wrote in answer: " Yes, send her to me." The first place where 
I presented m)self as guest with my new friend, was at IIoneo\-e, 
the home of Mr. fiooddl. The lady, who had sent me a press- 
ing invitation to make lur house my home, looketl at us with 
consternation on every feature. She at last said : " \\ alk in : ' 
and giving ni}' friend a seat near the door, took me into an inner 
apartment, sa)'ing : "Mrs. Colman, I did not, when }ou were 
sent the invitation, know that jou had a colored woman with 
you. I am greatly embarrassed, as 1 have onh' one guest-room." 
1 said : " Let me relieve you at once. I consulted my frientl's 
prejudices, as 1 anticipated such happenings, and she told me she 
had no pn-judict- against r.'////*' pc'o])Ic, and would be perfectly 
willing to occup\' a room with nic. 1 am sun- if \ on consult her 
she will not object." 



REMINISCENCES. 51 

The change in Mrs. A's face was ludicrous, but I kept a 
very serious look as I said : " If it should happen that the white 
should leave a stain upon the black skin, I suppose it would be 
just as bad to bear, as if the black skin should impress itself upon 
the white." My hostess " saw the point," opened her guest-room 
and asked us both to walk in and take possession. We did so, 
and no reference was made to the difference in race again, while 
we occupied it, but we were cared for in the best possible man- 
ner. I have often heard of Mrs. A. referring to the lesson she 
learned at that time, as one she had never forgotten. We of the 
North have always indulged in the most bitter prejudice against 
color. No matter how refined and charming a person may be, if 
we can discover a little dark blood, we make them social outcasts. 
At the same time, how many ladies will take into their arms and 
caress, with the greatest affection, a black dog, bringing the mouth 
of the four-footed pet into the closest contact with their own ! 
Perhaps they are not degrading themselves by such intimacies. 
Such is prejudice. 

I was once advertised to speak in a place, and was not known 
to any of the committee who had the meeting in charge. A col- 
ored lady was speaking in the State at the same time, and no one 
of the getters-up of the meeting knew whether the name Colman 
belonged to the white woman or the colored. I arrived at the 
station after nightfall, and the problem was unanswered. At last 
a man, a little more bold than some of the others in waiting, pro- 
pounded the important question : " Mrs. Colman, we do not know 
whether you are colored or white. We know there is a colored 
lady in the lecture field; will you please tell us which }'ou are?" 
I felt a little mischievous, and so said : " If you are not able to 
tell a white pet'son and a colored, one from the other, why should 
you care?" If I am colored, and pass for white, I ma}' gain a 
little among the people who are prejudiced ; " and so I refused to 
tell them. Not one of the audience was able, positively, to de- 
cide. The morning light gave them the much-desired answer. 

I think, as I am on the subject of color, I will tell a little anec- 
dote, which more properly belongs some years later ; but I might 
omit it should I wait for the more proper time, chronologically 
speaking. During the war, when I was in Washington, a Dr. 
Thompson was sent from England by the friends of the colored 
people, to look about and see what was the best thing to do for 



52 REMINISCENCES, 

them. Calling at my office he immediately took me for his coun- 
trywoman, and was so pleased to be with one of his own nation, 
that before I was ready to announce myself as a full-blooded 
Yankee, he had begged me to allow him to remain ni}- guest 
while he should be in Washington. He was in comi)any w^ith 
Rev. D. K. Leigh, of New York City, and as Mr. Leigh's daugh- 
ter, of perhaps fourteen years, was with him, he asked as a great 
favor that I would take her in charge, show her the sights, etc., 
while the two gentlemen should find their business or pleasure 
without incumbrance. I of course took the young lady to the 
public reception at the White House. Dr. Thompson and Rev. 
Mr. Leigh soon after arrived, and following them came Captain 
Carse, of Freedman Village. Captain Carse was my friend, and 
seeing me, he came immediately to me, and with great indigna- 
tion in his voice and look, told me that he had brought Sojourner 
Truth with his wife, just as he would have brought his own 
mother, and that they would not allow Sojourner to enter the 
house, because she was colored. Dr. Thompson was very much 
surprised, and quite indignant, but there was no help. A colored 
lady, Mrs. Lincoln's dress-maker, always dressed her (Mrs. Lin- 
coln) for the receptions, but was never permitted to go into the 
house as a caller. Color, in any degree, was a bar to the entrance. 
Dr. Thompson said to me, " I would so like to take a colored per- 
son on my arm and enter the house." I said, " I will arrange 
that; you shall.'' And so, on the ne.xt reception da}-, I intro- 
duced him to Miss Josephine Slade (daughter of the usher at the 
White House under Johnson), who afterwards became Mrs. 
Wormly. She was very beautiful, and being on the arm of a distin- 
gui.shed English gentleman, the ushers did not detect the color, 
and so she passed in. Mrs. Lincoln, however, knew the young lad\', 
as she was sometimes employed as her dress-maker's helper, and 
she did not fail to scowl upon lur her contempt at the intrusion. 
This prejudice against color looked very c<mtemptil:»le in tin- 
eyes of the good I',nglishman, and it certainly^ was vulgarl)' con- 
tcrniptiblc; but was it more so than the I'.iiii^lisli caste, \\\\\\. pre- 
vents the Manpiis of Lome, the husband of one of (Jueen 
Victoria's diiughtcrs, walking by the side of his wife, and enter- 
ing the s.inif dooi' with hci', in ^onu- <if the public assemblages in 
the l-'atherland? " rh)-sici.iii, heal tliNseH"," is often .111 .ippropri.ite 
.idmonitioii. 



REMINISCENCES. 53 

I now return to the field-work again. I was in Ulster County 
some time, and in Greenfield I had quite a memorable time. In 
Ellenville there were two or three prominent men who were pro- 
nounced Abolitionists, and -tolerant in their religion, and with 
their assistance I had a very successful meeting. I always made 
it a point in my addresses, to speak of the legal slavery in which 
every white woman is held, being governed by laws to which she 
has never given consent ; and this statement of her condition 
raised the ire of some two or three lawyers of the " baser sort," 
so that after my departure from the county, they made loud 
threats of what they would do, if I should ever come amoiuT 
them again, getting up a list of questions relating to sex, that 
were very vulgarly worded, that they announced they should pro- 
pound to me. 

The member of the legislature from Ellenville had served as 
chairman for my meeting, and was a personal friend. He wrote 
to me asking if I had personal courage sufficient to come and 
again speak. I answered, " Engage the hall and advertise." He 
had by some adroitness obtained a list of the queries that were 
to overthrow me and the Woman's Cause. I was thus informed 
of what I was to meet, and fully prepared ; though that matter 
was a secret between us (Mr. D. and myself). My friend had 
also obtained the service for chairman of a very prominent, pop- 
ular man, who believed in maintaining free speech. 

I arrived in the morning of the day, and was met with a wel- 
come from several friends, but they were so doleful and fearful, 
that had I not been sure of myself, I should probably have 
failed by being affected by their timidity. The hall was well 
filled, — many more women than at my first visit. The chairman 
was skillful as a keeper of order, and the meeting was quiet. 
When I took my place I announced that I had been informed 
that some gentlemen, whom I was happy to see were present, had 
a number of questions to propound, and if they would present 
them then, at the opening of the meeting, it would oblige me ; 
as perhaps the hour of the evening might all be required for the 
answers. The audience evinced the greatest anxiety, but the 
gentlemen kept their seats, and their tongues were tied. I had 
the list in my pocket, and knew how to answer them in my ad- 
dress, without being at all vulgar or obscene. The vulgarity was 
in the wording of the queries. 



54 REMINISCENCES. 

I do not now, nor have I ever found it, obscene to talk about 
llie relations of the sexes. If fathers and mothers would teach 
their children tlie laws of physical life, and the sacredness of the 
human body in all its functions, licentiousness would soon disap- 
pear. The meeting was a great success ; but these base men 
wrote a garbled, lying report to the Nczv York Herald, which was 
published, as thousands of such reports have been since. I was 
somewhat hurt by hearing that one of the leaders of the Woman's 
Rights party said, on reading the report, that she was sure Mrs. 
Colman must be very ijnprudiiit, or such things would not have 
been said. How little she knew about it then. Since that time 
she has been maligned beyond decency, in a hundred papers, and 
once hung in effigy in a city of which 1 have been a resident, the 
position such that to-day, thirty years since, as I write it the 
blood mounts to my face, and I involuntarily blush for poor hu- 
man nature. 

I had a collision in Orange County with an officer of the 
Bible Society, who told me that I ought to be imprisoned, and 
wishing that he were an officer of the law, so that he could bring 
about the arrest. 

The Baptist Church did not llourish much in this region, so 
long ago as the time of which I am writing. I became ac- 
quainted with it some years later, and found it much like other 
Protestant Churches. A religion that has a personal God, out- 
side of humanit)', to worship and to please, is quite apt to get 
appointed an official to regulate the people, and particular!)- to 
execute punishment adetiuate to the offense committed against 
an Infinite Ruler of the universe. Humanity so likes authorit\-, 
it seems sometimes as if it gloated upon the sufferings of its 
fellows. 

While in the vicinity of lloneoj'e with my colored friend, 
a gentleman who attended one of our meetings invited us to 
speak at his home, some fifteen miles from where we were then 
speaking. I said, " Yes, if you will provide us with a home in 
the place." He answered, " I will do so ; and as there is no direct 
public conveyance, I will come with my carriage for you, and 
entertain you at m)' house." Accordingly, on the da\- appoinleti 
the gentleman presented himself, with liorse and c.uriage, and 
we had a delightful drive over fifteen miles. When we arrived our 
host took us to his door, which was opened 1)\' a )'oung lady 



REMINISCENCES. 55 

whom he introduced to us as his niece. She paid us all needful 
attention, but I was surprised that the wife did not come in and 
bid us welcome; and following out our Yankee proclivities, I be- 
gan to ask questions. The answers were such that I expected 
some kind of a storm. 

At last tea was called, and the young lady escorted us to the 
dining-room, and, having seated us, took her seat at the head of 
the table. Very soon a good-looking young woman came into 
the room, with a child a year old or thereabouts in her arms, and 
the young lady introduced us to her as her uncle's wife, our 
hostess. I said, "Are we not to have your company at the 
table ? " She answered very emphatically, " No, I don't eat with 
niggers. If my husband were not the best man, and the best 
husband in the world, I would not have one in the house." (The 
husband was not in the house at the time.) " Oh ! " I said, " I 
beg pardon ; I supposed you sympathized with your husband." 
I put my hand tenderly upon the colored )^oung woman, saying: 
" Never mind the insult ; bear it as patiently as you can." When 
the hostess came into the room again, I said, "You will honor 
me by going to hear me speak to night, will you not? " " No, 
I'll stay at home with my baby! " "Can't you take your baby? 
It's a beautiful evening." I said to the husband, without being 
heard by the wife, " Get your wife to go to the meeting, and take 
the baby. Sit in a conspicuous place, — I want to sell that child 
from an auction-block." He succeeded, and sat with his wife and 
child directly in front of the pulpit, and I sold the baby. The 
picture must have been realistic, for as I struck it off to the 
highest bidder, the mother sobbed aloud. She was fully con- 
verted, and was glad to prove her conversion by eating with the 
lady in the morning, who was the nigger in the evening ; and 
showed her regret for the unprovoked insult by little pleasant 
attentions, and even tender words. I never attended but one 
auction in my life, but I managed a mock one very well, being 
auctioneer and buyer also. That woman was from that day an 
Abolitionist, and the husband very happy for the change. 

In Naples, Livingston county, I had an experience worthy of 
record. In this place lived a man, a Mr. Marks, who, besides be- 
ing a roaring Methodist, was an active Abolitionist ; and being 
rich for those times, a merchant and a general business man, was 
an acquisition of great worth to the cause of the slave. I wrote 



56 REMINISCENCES. 

to him, asking him if he would get us up a series of meetings, 
and entertain me, with my colored co-laborer, at his home ? He 
answered immediately, " Yes, come prepared to speak one week 
from Sunday next ; " and so we went. On Sunday morning Mr. 
Marks said: " You will go to church, Mrs. Colman?" I said, 
*' Excuse me, I do my own preaching." " No," he said, " I can- 
not excuse you. I have a purpo^^e in your being seen at church." 
So with my friend with the colored skin I went to the church. 

The building was new and quite fine, — a large audience, for 
the Methodists were very flourishing in that place. We listened 
to a sermon, about the average of Methodist sermons in those 
days. At its close, Mr. Marks went to the altar and said : " The 
audience will remember that last Sunday I gave notice that 
to-day, in this house, we would have two sisters with us, to speak 
for the slave, if tlicre were no objections ; but there have been 
objections. The sisters are here, — you see them." Two women, 
one a black one, were no small attraction in those days for a pul- 
pit. You could hear a buzz of dissatisfaction to the objection. 
At length Mr. Marks said: " I own another church — the building 
next this is mine ; and though it has been used for the last two 
years as an arsenal, you will find it nicely seated to-day ; and in 
that the sisters will speak, commencing at two. o'clock." Mr. 
Marks had taken his men from his store Saturday night, removed 
the guns, and with planks from his lumber-yard, had seated the 
entire floor. At this announcement there was a general shout of 
glory to God. Mr. Marks did not tell who had made the objec- 
tions, but the little insignificant minister revealed himself by his 
crest-fallen look. 

We had a great crowd. 'Ihc minister came, but he could not 
stay. Miss Holland commenced the service by reading the [jar- 
able of the man who fell among thieves. I invited the minister 
to pray, if he W(juld like to do so ; but as he did not resi)ond, an 
illiterate old man performed the service, certain!}- in an earnest 
manner. I then read " Whittier's Sabbath Scene." We did not 
make the application, — it made itself, antl the minister could not 
remain. I spoke every night that week, often more than two 
hours without rest, using no notes. 1 used myself completely up, 
had an attack of congestion of tlie brain, and was obliged to give 
u[), foi a lime, public work. 

y\boiit this lime I niadi- ihc ac(|uainlance of Captain John 



REMINISCENCES. 57 

Brown, — " Ossawatomie Brown," he was called then. I knew of 
his work in Kansas, and had made the acquaintance of his son, 
John Brown, Jr., the year previous, in Ohio. The atrocities com- 
mitted on John Brown, Jr., proved the inhabitants of Missouri 
("Border Ruffians," they were called at that time) to have been 
of the same human nature as the Russians of to-day, who delight 
in the sufferings which they inflict upon the Nihilists. 

I do not know as it is necessary for me to say much of John 
Brown. He is known as the man who precipitated the War of the 
Rebellion, by his raid into Virginia, and attacking and holding, 
for a few hours, the arsenal at Harper's Ferry. He was duly exe- 
cuted for treason, " but his soul went marching on," until a war 
broke out between the North and the South, which did not end 
until chattel slavery was abolished. I was intimately acquainted 
with Captain Brown, and seriously contemplated, at one time, go- 
ing into the mountains of Virginia, and helping him to establish 
homes for the fugitive^ who should escape from slavery. But 
though in our hatred for slavery, and interest in the bondman. 
Captain Brown and I were well agreed, we differed entirely in our 
religious creed, he being the most thorough Calvinist I ever knew, 
and, added to his Calvinism, he was positively sure God had com- 
missioned ///;// to lead the American chattel slave out of bondage 
into freedom ; and until that work was accomplished his own life 
was a special care of his God and could not be taken. I had 
long before that time given up all faith in special providences, 
and ceased to regard the Hebrew laws as binding upon me; and 
so, though Captain Brown continually repeated the words, " He 
that loveth father and mother more than me, is not worthy of 
me," to me, to father, mother and child seemed my first duty, and 
I did not join him. 

The evening previous to the starting of Captain Brown's fol- 
lowers from Rochester, I spent at the house of Mr. Frederick 
Douglass, and when ready for my walk home. Shields Green 
accompanied me. I said to him, while on our walk, " Do you 
know that by going with Captain Brown into a Southern State, 
you expose yourself to the gallows? That if )'ou are taken you 
will surely be executed ? " He answered, "Yes; I shall probably 
lose my life, but if my death will help to free my race, I am will- 
ing to die. I have suffered cruel blows from men who said the}- 
owned me. Death from the hands of the law for no offense, save 



58 REMINISCENCES. 

for believing in liberty for myself and my race, would not be a 
degradation ; but blows from an overseer's lash, crush into my 
soul." Brave and good man ! Virginia hung him by the neck 
until he was dead ; but no amount of persuasion, or threat, could 
draw from him the name or residence of any friend who had 
helped him on that fatal mission. My own name was in " the 
carpet bag," but Governor Wise wisely refrained from demanding 
that New York should give up citizens who had only abetted 
treason by words. Alas! that to-day /Vr^ speech is treason. 

The year following the execution of those persons engaged in 
the Harper's Ferry Massacre was one of continuous mobs. Buf- 
falo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany, were perhaps the most 
noted. In all these cities the Republicans were in power, save 
in Albany. The Mayor of Albany was a Democrat, and he alone 
protected the meeting, by calling out the forces of the law. The 
Republicans seemed mad upon the subject of preserving the Un- 
ion, no matter how low they should be required to stoop to their 
lords of the South ; but when the South opened the war by 
firing upon Sumter, Republicans and Democrats alike awakened 
to their degradation. 

My daughter had now reached her seventeenth year — 1862 — 
and I had begun to feel that she would be able to fulfill all my 
hopes. She was scholarly and something of a genius. Her talent 
for drawing was marked when quite a child ; but her great desire 
was for the stage. I could not encourage her in that wish, with 
neither father nor brother to protect her, and entire))^ dependent 
upon my daily labor for a living, and realizing at least some of 
the difficulties attending the profession, I could only say, No. 
The New England Woman's Medical College was at that time in 
operation, and as my sister, Dr. A. F. Raymond, was at that time 
resident there, I concluded that to be the best opening within my 
means. The knowledge of anatomy and physiology would be 
valuable, should she ever use her pencil as a profession. She was 
accordingly admitted as a student at the fall term in 1862. In 
two weeks a telegram reached me, sa\'ing, " Come ! Gertrude is 
very sick." I readied her twenty-four hours before her reason 
left her. She lived one week thereafter, and died. Parker Pills- 
bur)- and William Llo)'d Garrison came to the college, and tried 
to say words of comfort. I was very anxious to reach home with 
liie remains of the dear one, before death should have destroyed 



REMINISCENCES. 59 

the natural look; and so my sister, Mrs Clark, of Springfield, 
who had been with us at the death-bed, made all preparations 
promptly as possible, and we (Mrs. Clark and myself) started with 
the corpse on the train for the west, which left Boston at 2 o'clock 
P. M. My heart was broken, and I thought I would gladly die, if 
I only could. What was there in life for me ? 

When we reached Chatham, — not the village, but a little way 
into the township, — in an instant we were thrown from our seats, 
and the car in which we were was thrown over onto its side. The 
crash was terrific, The first w^ord I heard was from my sister, 
who said, "Lucy, if you are alive, speak." I answered, "Yes, 
and you are, as you can speak." I thought I wanted to die, but 
I did not, as I found myself trying to extricate myself from the 
broken seats and other timbers that held me down. The night 
was very dark ; it was then ten o'clock, and we were some four 
miles from help. The engineer had gone down v/ith his engine, 
many feet ; not killed, but terribly hurt. Not one of all the num- 
ber was dead, but the groans told of the suffering. We could not 
perceive our situation, but as we escaped from the car, we 
found we were on a ridge so steep that we put our hands into the 
gravel and pulled ourselves up onto the track. Our eyes having 
become accustomed to the darkness, we were able to move about 
with safety. Neither my sister nor myself were seriously hurt. 
We had no broken bones. The cause of the accident was the 
raising of one of the rails by some one or more persons, to wreck 
the train, as some companies of soldiers were expected to take 
that train at a station just east of Chatham. It was just a few 
days after General McCIellan was relieved from the command of 
the Army of the Potomac, and some people seemed ready to do 
any desperate act to gratify their revenge. The wreck remained 
on the track some four hours, when help was obtained, and we 
Avere transported on our way. 

Among the passengers was a gentleman in the garb of a cler- 
gyman. His cravat was white, such as marked a minister in those 
days, whose conduct was so ludicrous that I have never forgotten 
it. As my sister and I made our escape from the car, we found 
some one was before us, and as soon as his (the gentleman's) eyes 
told him there were ladies near him, he said, " Ladies, are you 
hurt.'*" We answered, " Not much." And then came his asser- 
tion that he was not hurt : " Well, ladies, I am very happy to tell 



6o REMINISCENCES. 

you I am not hurt. At first I thought I was ; but I find I am not. 
But, ladies, did you see anything of my umbrella, as you came 
out ? " What a question ! we had dragged ourselves out of a car, 
turned upon its side, in the darkness, hardly knowing whether or 
not our limbs were left us; and that man, who could no doubt 
tell any one how to escape hell, was so frightened that his um- 
brella seemed " the one thing needful," and he required the help 
of two women to find it for him. After a time a little child, 
whose mother was among the wounded, became troubled and 
frightened, and as I took her into my care I drew from my pocket 
some little crackers, and gave them to her and her sisters older, 
knowing that children are often reached through their appetites. 
The clergyman, observing it, said : " I left a paper of crackers in 
the car ; if some one would go into the car and get them, the 
children could have some of them." If some one at the risk of 
life or limb, would go into that car and get a paper of crackers 
from out the debris, the children could have some of them. No 
wonder such people want to be helped into heaven by and through 
a Savior. 

The services at the funeral were performed by Mr. Frederick 
Douglass. I did not wMsh for a minister, but a Universalist minis- 
ter, a friend of the famil}', made a few remarks. I do not know 
at all what was said. I only kiow that words seemed a mockery. 
I had no object in life, though my father and mother were with 
me and needed my care. I felt that one of my sisters could take 
my place, and I could give up life. By and by a call came from 
Washington, for a woman without prejudice, to take the place of 
Matron in the National Colored Orphan Asylum. This institu- 
tion was founded by Senator Pomeroy's wife, of Kansas. There 
were a great many houseless, homeless children in and about 
Washington, — children from a few months to ten years of age. 
No one knew where their mothers were, and the fathers were, 
many of them, in the rebel arm)% as officers or soldiers. These 
ciiildren were of all shades of color; many of them with blue 
eyes and silver hair. .Surely such had fathers destitute of preju- 
dice against color, so far as the mothers of their children were 
concerned. 

There were also in this institution se\'eral oUl women, from 
seventy to eighty years oUl. i'lu: instilution had officers from, or 
in, all of tile Northern .States, .md the donations from tiiese states 



REMINISCENCES. 6i 

were what were relied upon to support it, though the government 
allowed them the use of a commodious house, with large grounds, 
in Georgetown, owned by a rebel, who fled to Richmond at the 
breaking out of the war. During the year that had passed since 
the opening of this asylum, there had been three or four women 
employed as matrons, who had been successively quarreled away 
by the resident teacher, a woman from Massachusetts, related to, 
and recommended by, some of the pronounced Liberals in and 
about Boston. I will not say this woman was the worst woman 
who ever lived, because I have not seen all the bad women of my 
own time ; but I have no hesitation in putting her at the head of 
all I have known, in selfish wickedness. A woman who will de- 
liberately starve, and otherwise abuse, little children, who have 
no one to care for them, is a monstrosity that I do not wish to be 
acquainted with. 

This teacher bore a name honored and beloved in Massachu- 
setts, and because of her name the Liberals (I mean by Liberals, 
Unitarians, Agnostics, and the Republicans of Governor Andrew's 
stamp), were determined to defend her under all circumstances; 
and so, if a matron made any complaint of the teacher, instead 
of looking into the matter, the matron was summarily dismissed. 
Had I known of the condition of things, I could not have been 
persuaded to take the place ; but having taken it, I determined 
to change its character, or break it up entirely. 

I will not tire the reader with a very minute description of 
these children, — eighty in number, and not ten healthy ones in 
all, and not one free from the most disgusting parasites. The 
teacher had been matron a sufficient time to allow them all to 
become infested with vermin too bad to write about. The dis- 
cipline was sustained by taking the food from the disobedient, 
and as there were always children who could not, if they would, 
conform to some of the rules, because of feebleness, so there was 
always hunger. One of the farmers whose land joined the asy- 
lum complained to me that he had not been able to keep food 
for his swine, only as he put it behind a lock, as these hungr}- 
children would devour the contents of his swill-barrel with eager- 
ness. Mrs. Senator Pomeroy had died, and the woman who took 
her place was evidently afraid of Massachusetts. 

My friend who had recommended me to the society thought 
if she could once sret me into that institution, I would find it was 



62 REMINISCENCES. 

not quite time for me to sit down and hug my own grief. Here 
were atrocities perpetrated daily upon the children of a race 
whom I had adopted and worked for in the best years of my life 
— abused under the name of Christian care, and as yet there was 
no help. I looked about me. I did not pfay, but I used my 
authority as matron. I said, " You will be mistress of these 
children in the school-room, but out of the school-room you have 
no control. Never take away their food again. I will not allow 
it." She tried it, but found herself circumvented as and where 
she least expected it. The grounds were covered with trees 
bearing the most delicious fruit — early apples, apricots, and, in 
time, peaches in the greatest abundance. This woman forbade 
these children to help themselves, though the fruit was wasting 
upon the ground. I said to them, "You must not climb the 
trees without permission from me, but eat all you wish from the 
ground." I sent for one of the army surgeons. His name I do 
not at this writing recall, but his picture is to be seen at the bed- 
side of President Lincoln in the engraving of the death scene. 
At this day, more than twenty years since, my heart goes out in 
thankfulness to him for his kindness. He always came at my 
call. He told me how to destroy the parasites that were eating 
the life out of these children. He said the sickness was from 
want of food and care, encouraged me to do as seemed right, and 
with his help and counsel, after being there three months, the 
children were all well and clean, but I had broken down in health, 
and felt that I must give it all up ; but I did not cease my work 
till that teacher was removed. It was a hard fight, with great 
odds against me, — the prominent Antislavcry men in Congress, 
and the Unitarian minister, the Rev. William Ilcnr)' Channing, 
then resident of Washington. Only Secretary Stanton and his 
assistant, Major Luddington, and the indefatigable woman, Jane 
Gray Swisshelm, had taken time to examine into the matter, 
and they were with me. Governor Andrew even sent his secre- 
tary all the way from Massachusetts to defend this wicked 
woman. 

Mrs. Swisshelm finally announced, that unless the whole thing 
was thoroughly looked into, she would cause the arrest of the 
teacher for manslaughter ; and as it could be easily proven, her 
(the teacher's) friends were glad to cease their opposition to the 
examination, and the private secretary went lionie, fust advising 



REMINISCENCES. 63 

that the teacher leave the institution. It took three months of 
hard labor, but the woman was removed. 

After the removal Harriet Tubman was employed a month, to 
rid the asylum of the filth ; but the children were sick and many 
of them died. Starvation and disgusting parasites had done 
their work. I think that the most charitable reason that can be 
given of, or for, that teacher's conduct, was that she was under 
the influence of alcohol, of which there was an abundance in the 
cellar of the building, in the shape of brandy, whisky, and wine. 
She was certainly crazed with something. I hope her friends 
have learned enough of her to repent of their defense of her 
wickedness. 

This was only one of the many cases where the poor colored 
people were used to profit some broken-down teacher or clergy- 
man. Secretary Stanton told me that the trouble he had with 
the abuse of these " Contrabands," was almost equal to the war. 
The North had so many superannuated ministers to care for, that 
it seemed a Godsend to be able to send them where they would 
be able to obtain a salary for doing something that was worse 
than nothing. These colored people could pray and sing quite 
as well as their teachers. They needed no instruction in that line. 
The requirements of civilization were not so familiar to them, 
such as cleanliness, and prudence, sobriety and independence. 

After leaving the asylum, I was appointed teacher of a colored 
school in Georgetown, by the New York Aid Society, but in a 
few days some other society claimed that as their ground, and so, 
leaving that particular school, I was made Superintendent of all 
the schools in the district, supported by the New York Aid So- 
ciety, some eleven in number. I used to go to each one every 
week, and speak to them Sundays, in some one of their school- 
rooms. I tried to teach them that cleanliness was not only 
godliness, but that it was positively essential to godliness, and 
that shouting, praying and singing, would avail them nothing, 
while the day after all these noisy demonstrations they drank 
themselves drunk, quarreled with each other, stole and lied as 
they had learned to do in slavery. It was a hard lesson for some 
of them, but generations of the most debasing, abject slavery, is 
not productive of a high order of morals; and these people were 
only grown-up children. We expected altogether too much of 
them. I am astonished that we had so little trouble with them. 



64 REMINISCENCES. 

The American Tract Society early established itself, by their 
agents, among these people. This society was the most posi- 
tive proslavery organization in this country. In all their leaflets, 
as well as their larger publications, they entirely ignored the 
slave. They sometimes re-published some of the English tracts, 
carefully excluding all reference to the sin of slaveholding, put- 
ting in its place the awful sin of dancing, card-playing, and the- 
atrical exhibitions. One at this day can hardly realize how en- 
tirely subservient all classes were to the slave-power. I remember 
a good liberal clergyman, who, for twenty years, in his own church, 
fought the rum power and conquered it, publishing a reading 
book for schools, in which he put one of ,Cowper's poems, in 
which occur these grand words against slaveholding : 

" I would not have a slave to till my ground. 
To carry me, to fan me while I sleep, 
And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth 
That sinews bought and sold have ever earn'd — 
No ! dear as freedom is, and in my heart's 
Just estimation prized above all price, 
I had much rather be myself the slave. 
And wear the bonds, than fasten them on him." 

The South refused to buy the book, and the clergj'inan bent 
his knee to the slave power, published another edition, leaving 
out the objectionable poem. 

This Tract Society now ignored its past, and made haste to 
prepare a room for religious services at Freedman's Village, where 
my friend Capt. Carse was Superintendent. These agents did not 
like me, nor my inlluencc in the village, and they tried hard to shut 
me out. On the other hand Captain Carse thought my influence 
beneficial, and sometimes sent foi" me in a troublous time with 
some of the freed people. One day he said to me, " You ought 
to have a pass that shall be good for a month, instead of only one 
day. I will get you such a one." And so, going to the office, 
he asked Captain lirown for the pass. " How is that?" .said the 
officer. " Here is a man who w.is just trying to persuade me to 
refuse Mrs. Colman a pass, never allowing her one for a da\-." 
Superintendent Carse looked up, and saw the resident agent of 
the Anie»-ican Ti.ict Society, and Iheieupon ensued a scene. " l^y 



REMINISCENCES. 65 

what authority do you presume to keep any one out of a district 
of which I am military commander, sir? Do you know that it is 
through my permission that you are there ?" The monthly pass 
came, and these agents were obliged to endure my visits oftener 
than was agreeable to them. They vented their spite by refusing 
the use of their carriage to take me back and forth. The super- 
intendent and wife always rode on horseback, a feat that was not 
agxeeable to me ; but there were plenty of colored people in 
Washington who owned carriages, and they were alwa}'s glad to 
use them for my benefit. 

Sojourner Truth, who was not allowed to enter the White 
House as an equal with other visitors, was living at the village at 
that time, going among the people and teaching them to make 
the best use of the little the government gave them to live upon. 
I think here I will give my readers an account of the visit which 
I made with this remarkable colored woman to President Lincoln, 
for the purpose of introducing her to him. Sojourner Truth was 
a slave in the State of New York, freed by the State in 1817. 
She was then about forty-five years of age, and she lived till 1883. 
She never learned to read, but her intuition was wonderful. She 
was what the Spiritualists call mediumistic, but her "control" 
was God. She held almost hourly converse with, as she supposed, 
the God of the universe ; asked his opinion about any contem- 
plated business that she proposed to do, and went by his direc- 
tion. She early came into the Antislavery work, and did valiant 
service as a lecturer. The first time that she visited Ohio she 
was nearly seventy years old, but she was quite as vigorous as a 
person of fifty. Some one of the friends of her race fitted her 
out with horse and buggy, and she traveled some weeks, getting 
up her own meetings. She said whenever she came to a place 
where two roads met, she laid the lines down and said, " God, 
you drive," and he always drove her to some good place, where 
she had a successful meeting. She paid her way, and her horse 
was well taken care of, but I think she did not convert to real 
abolitionism many on that trip. The people were curious to hear 
her talk and sing. Her voice was very fine, and she could sing 
well after she had passed her hundredth year. She was a great 
smoker till she was ninety years of age. Going among the freed 
people, and trying to teach them economy, she found it not best 
to take with her such a useless habit as smoking. 



66 REMINISCENCES. 

When Mr. Lincoln was elected President, Sojourner deter- 
mined to make the journey to Washington to see him — the 
first Antislavery President — and so her friends sent her with 
her grandson, a boy of fourteen years, to me. Somehow if any- 
thing was to be done for any special colored person, everybody, 
far and near, knew I was the one to be called upon to do it, and 
I am glad to remember that however difficult the work to be 
done I somehow accomplished it. 

When Sojourner reached Washington she supposed she could 
walk right into the White House, have a good chat with the 
President, and be asked to call again, perhaps but it took some 
weeks to get an appointment for her. This I finally accom- 
plished by the aid of Mrs, Kaightly, Mrs. Lincoln's dressmaker, 
a colored woman who, because of her business, was in almost 
daily communication with the President's family. At last the 
appointment was made for one Saturday morning at eight o'clock, 
and promptly at the hour we were there. The war was in prog- 
ress at that time, and much business occupied even the morning 
hours of Mr. Lincoln. The receiving-room was well filled before 
nine o'clock, and still no call came for us. At last, at half-past 
eleven, the call came for Mrs. Colman and her friend. While we 
were waiting, there had come into the room a colored woman, 
whom I asked if she had an appointment with the President, or 
any one to take her into his presence, to which she answered, 
"No, but I must see him." I said, "You may go in with me," 
and so I went into the room with two of the blackest women I 
ever saw, not as my escort, but I as theirs. 

We were obliged to wait long enough for the President to tell 
one of his funny stories to a deputation of merchant tailors from 
Baltimore, who had come to ask Mr. Lincoln to pardon or release 
one of their brother merchants, charged with trading with the 
rebels. I do not know whether or not the merchant was released, 
the deputation departed with no answer save the story, and that 
I have forgotten ; I wrote it out at the time and it was published 
in the New York Tribune. When the President was ready I 
said, " I am very happy, sir, to say to ^ou that I have not come 
to ask any favor; my business is simply to present to you my 
friend, Sojourner 'i'liilh, a wcMiian widely known, not only in 
our counli)', hut abroad ; she will say to you what she wisiies 
without further help from mc." To the other woman I said, "As 



REMINISCENCES. 67 

soon as Sojourner is through with the President present your 
business." 

Mr. Lincohi was not himself with this colored woman; he had 
no funny story for her, he called her aunty, as he would his washer- 
woman, and w^hen she complimented him as the first Antislavery 
President, he said, "I'm not an Abolitionist; I wouldn't free the 
slaves if I could save the Union in any other way- — -I'm obliged 
to do it." I said to my friend, " We must not detain the Presi- 
dent — are you ready?" and saying good-bye, I had just reached 
the door, when Mr. Lincoln said very earnestly, " Mrs. Colman, 
won't you come back? Walk in here and take a seat," opening 
the gate of the railing that separated him from his callers. I 
went back, took the seat, and by Mr. Lincoln's request read the 
letter which the colored woman who had gone into the room 
with me had presented to him. As I read, Mr. Lincoln said, 
" Tis a hard case, but what can I do? I have no more money 
than she has. Can't you take her off my hands? " " Mr. Presi- 
dent," I said, " when I came in I told you I had no personal 
favor to ask of you, but I shall be very happy to grant you one, 
and if you will put upon this envelope the words you have just 
repeated to me, * I think this a hard case, but w^hat can I do ? I 
have no more money than she has,' signing your name as the 
President of the United States, I will gladly relieve you of this 
woman." He saw his inconsistency, but taking the letter, wrote 
upon the envelope, "I think this a worthy object. — Abe Lincoln. 
When we had done talking, which was some minutes, I knew 
he was not glad that the war had made him the emancipator of 
four million slaves. Perhaps he came to rejoice over it, when 
he realized that by the logic of events his name would be 
immortal through that act, but at that time he did not see it. 
He believed in the white race, not in the colored, and did not 
want them put on an equality. 

The letter was from the wife of a colored soldier then at the 
front. She was hopelessly sick and to be turned out of house 
for non-payment of rent. The husband had been eleven months 
in service, but had never been paid for even one month, as no 
colored soldier had been at that time. When they were paid 
they only received seven dollars per month. Comment is needless. 

After the death of Mr. Lincoln, and Mr. Johnson was inaugu- 
rated. Sojourner was again interested to sec another President. 



68 REMINISCENCES. 

The uslier at the White House — a colored man, though much 
whiter than myself — easily made the way, and Mr. Johnson sent 
me an invitation to come one Sunday afternoon, and so we went. 
Mr. Johnson was quite at home with his colored guest, asking 
her — Mrs. Truth, he called her — to be seated, and refusing to be 
seated himself while she should stand. At last Sojourner said, 
" Sit down yourself. President Johnson, Ise used to standing, Ise 
been a lecturer most fifty years; "deed I don't know what these 
United States w'ould have come to if it hadn't been tor my lec- 
turing." The President kept on his dignity, invited the old lady 
to stay longer and to call again. 

My work continued with the freed people through the year, 
though I often visited the hospitals and did what I could to help 
to while the time away with the poor, maimed and homesick 
soldiers. A woman's presence was always a joy to them. There 
was a volunteer nurse, a Mrs. Mary Parker, with whom I was 
intimate, whose name should be printed in letters of gold in 
enduring marble. Without pay — as she did not please the woman 
who had charge of the nurses' department, and was therefore 
summarily dismissed from further employment — she worked on, 
giving herself very little rest either day or night, sleeping for an 
hour or two wherever night overtook her. She slept in the ware- 
house where the soldiers' supplies were stored, when she could 
get to the building, and she visited all the hospitals as often as 
possible in the whole District of Columbia, but more especial!)' in 
Alexandria. The soldiers told her all their grievances, and she 
never once failed to get them removed, when they were found to 
be real and -not the effect of a morbid condition. 

After the first year of work she had become so well known to 
President Lincoln, that he said to those whom it concerned. 
" When Mrs. Parker asks for an ambulance, give her the best 
pair of horses and the most trusty driver; there's no need of 
questioning her, she is on some mission of mercy which cvcr\- 
body else has forgotten." The Surgeon-General became her 
powerful friend, and more than one incompetent and cruel sur- 
geon lost his place by being represented in his true colors to him 
(the Surgeon-Cieneral) by Mary Parker. She received no pay, 
she shared the soldiers' rations and the soldiers shared w ilh her 
whatever friends sent to her for her comfort. 

One day she came to my room, with her feet lilerail)' on the 



REMINISCENCES. 69 

ground. She did not seem to know it, though it was in March 
and wet and cold. She was full of enthusiasm about a young 
soldier whom she had in her tent (some of the western soldiers 
had given her a tent and pitched it for her, and now she had a 
home). He was very young, had fallen away on his march and 
reported drunk or a deserter. She had found him, knew that he 
was sick, had ordered the ambulance and brought him to her 
home. After getting him comfortably into bed she had been to 
the President and he had said yes, yes, to whatever she had 
desired, and now on her way she had called to tell me and to ask 
me to come and see " her dear, sick boy." 

I looked down at her feet ; her toes protruding from the holes 
in her shoes, and said, " Mary Parker! you haven't been into the 
White House in such a plight?" She said, " I didn't once think 
of my {^t.1, and I don't believe the President saw them ; I was in 
such haste to get the pardon, before my poor boy soldier dies, so 
that he could see it." I took five dollars from my purse, and 
said, " Swear to me you will buy yourself a pair of shoes on your 
way home, and I will give you this money to pay for them ; I 
can't afford to give it to you for any other purpose." She said, 
" I will," but a week after, Avhen she came to tell me her young 
soldier was dead and buried, her feet were in the same ragged 
shoes, I said, "Your feet! what does it mean?" " I could not 
help it," she answered ; " I know if you had been with me and 
seen the soldier that I used the money for you would have for- 
gotten bare feet." 

Such was Mary Parker, a woman who for all the years of the 
war gave herself to the welfare of the soldier. She never received 
one dollar from the government for her services, but I hope some 
of the soldiers for whom she worked so faithfully remembered her 
and helped to make her some remuneration. 

Jane Grey Swisshelm, one of the earliest Woman's Rights 
women — a lineal descendant of the family of Lady Jane Grc\' — 
did valiant service in the hospitals. She had the same power, per- 
haps in a less degree, that the late Leroy Sunderland possessed — 
her hands holding the limb which was being amputated, or rather 
from which a part was being removed, soothed the patient and 
overcame the suffering. But, like my friend Mrs. Parker, she could 
not come under rules. She knew what and how to do, and when 
to do it, and so as a soldier she would have been a sharji-shooter 



;o REMINISCENCES. 

or a scout, never a subordinate. It was my privilege to know her 
well, and, knowing, to appreciate her. 

I used to think, as, in my visits to my various schools, I saw 
the ambulances filled with maimed and bleeding men, and often 
dying men, how great must have been the wrong of chattel slav- 
ery, that required such a sacrifice of life to abolish ; and wondered 
if woman were only an active power in the government, if she 
would not have found a way to remove the wrong without the 
dreadful war. But the thing that most distressed me was to meet 
young boys handcuffed together, in charge of an officer, charged 
with deserting, or some lesser offense. These young boys — they 
were not old enough for men — had been in many cases hired by 
some man as substitute. Having no idea what a soldier's life 
meant, charmed by the martial music, they had enlisted, and the 
life was more than their physical or moral nature could endure, 
and so they had fallen and were prisoners. 

At last came the end, and Richmond was taken. But one 
morning, less than two weeks from the taking of Richmond, came 
the shock — the President is dead ! What need to write it out ? Is 
not every one familiar with the story? 

One thing you are not familiar with, unless you were in Wash- 
ington or Alexandria, Freedman's Village and Mason Island ; 
that is, the grief of the poor colored people. They looked upon 
the President as their saviour and they loved him as such, and, 
added to their grief, they feared that now they would be returned 
to bondage. It was touching to licar their wailing; every hut 
whose occupant possessed a rag of black cloth, or not possessing 
could obtain it, found it a delight to hang it over the door; and 
when the day came, when for the time being, all without regard 
to the color of the skin, were allowed to enter the White House, 
not one failed to look upon the face of their dead friend. And 
now came the trial of the assassins, all of which you will find in 
the chronicles of the day. I only make this record, that, so far 
as I could judge from the evidence, and I alteniied the trial, Mrs. 
Surratt had no more to do with the murder of President Lincoln 
than ail)' other rebel woinatt. She no doubt dcsiicd it, as did all 
the other rebels, but that she in any way aided it (M- even knew 
anything of it, until it occurred, was not, in my ()i)inion, proven 
even by circumstantial evidence. lUit men seemed mad. I was 
present in the court when Mrs. Surratt's daugiiter entered, look- 



REMINISCENCES. 71 

ing wild with grief. She was not allowed to look one moment 
upon her mother, but an officer took hold of the poor girl's shoul- 
ders, turned her around and put her out of court. Mrs. Surratt 
was not allowed speech with woman after her arrest. Man made 
the law, mail arrested her, man tried her, and by man she was 
pronounced guilty, and by man she was hung by the neck until 
she was dead. I do not find anything to say about " Woman's 
Rights " — it is all woman's wrongs. My good cousin need not 
have warned me that I would make my reminiscences unpopular 
by writing of the rights of woman ; I find so much of ivrongs 
that I have no space for rights. 

There were some persons of the other sex that, it seemed to me 
then and so I still think, were far from guilty of aiding or abetting 
murder, who were found guilty in a greater or less degree ; but 
the people were mad with fear, and the military commission, as 
well as the civil authority that tried the prisoners, only carried 
out the will of the community at large. Had they seen their 
errors or become less bloodthirsty, that such particular care was 
taken not to hurt the feelings of that arch traitor, Jefferson Davis? 
I was on board one of the government gunboats, on my way to 
Richmond, and saw them putting this man (through whom so 
many men had lost their lives — oh ! so many by starvation) — saw 
him being put in Fortress Monroe, a prisoner. I little thought 
then that the guard would be ordered to wear slippers because 
army shoes, by their noise, disturbed the nerves of the important 
man ! 

After the excitement of the death and funeral of the Presi- 
dent, the trial of the assassins and the hanging of the condemned, 
the people breathed quietly, and then came the word that some 
people, in particular some of the teachers of the schools, would 
be given a pass and return ticket to Richmond, by paying their 
fare one way ; this favor was to hold good a certain number of 
days. 

I thought I would like to go, but my salar}' did not admit of 
much superfluous traveling. I think the fare was $7.00 — am not 
sure. But there was another reason in the way — we were to go 
to Secretary Dana for passes, and I knew that he was prejudiced 
against me for the part I had taken in getting the teacher of the 
orphan asylum removed. Unlike Secretary Stanton, he was an 
eastern man, and the Massachusetts people were ail in favor of 



72 REMINISCENCES. 

the teacher because of her name. I never like to ask favors of 
pieiudice, and so, as one after another of the lady teachers came 
to me urging me to go, I said, " No, I will not ask the Secretary 
for a pass." They said, " Then you can not go, and we shall not 
have half as good time as if you were with us." But they could 
not induce me. I said, " Go, and depend upon yourselves." 

The same day Mrs. Parker, the nurse with the ragged shoes, 
called for some favor. I said, " Don't you want to go to Rich- 
mond ? Can't you get a pass for two? If you can I will pay 
your expenses in Richmond." She answered, "Yes, I do, but I 
have some soldiers I am at work for now, to get them honorably 
discharged, so I cannot possibly leave now, but I have a pass for 
two just given me by the Surgeon-General. I will give you this, 
but a certain woman will have to go with you, as I have promised 
her." " No," I said, " I cannot go that way." She went out, 
and in an hour returned with 2. pass and transportation both ways 
for Mrs. Colman. I accordingly went, surprising the ladies very 
much, as I would not tell them where I obtained the pass or the 
transportation, only that Secretary Dana did not give it. I ar- 
rived in Richmond about seven o'clock in the evening, having 
left Washington at three in the afternoon of the previous day. 
The boat-ride was very pleasant. We were out of sight of land 
some hours. I have too sound a stomach to be sea-sick, and so 
enjoy the water, or did then — I do not wish to try the water 
now. Alas! that we must grow old or die, and at my age, it is 
according to scripture, that " the grasshopper becomes a burden." 
much more the sea. 

I found a colored boy who showed me the way to the Teachers' 
Home, expecting to find my friends there, but the matron said 
they came but she refused to take them ; she had all .she could 
accommodate. I said, " This home is given by the government, 
with rations for the time being; by what aulhorit}- do }()u take 
possession of this immense house, take in whom you please and 
reject others at this time in the evening — a stranger and alone. 
Vou say you have no bed ; )()u luixe a lloor unoccujiied, ami an 
easy chair, which I ha\e possession of, and shall remain in il till 
morning. In daj'lighl I will report mxself to the commaiulant 
and find what it means." I had struck the n.iil on the head. 
The madam immediately changed her stj'le, prepared me a very 
comfortable su))per; gave me a bed by myself in a room b)- 



REMINISCENCES. 73 

myself, with comfortable things for the toilet. This woman, with 
the teachers, one a reverend, were from one Christian society, 
and I, with my teachers, wx^re from gnother, and as they came 
first into possession, they determined to hold it. It was nice to 
have extra accommodations for any friends who should visit the 
n^mous place. 

There was but one hotel open at that time, the Ballard House, 
and its charges were very high. In the morning I found the 
hotel. Most of my friends were preparing to go back, as the 
length of their purses were not sufficient to pay five, or even 
three, dollars a day. 

" How did you get here, and where did you stay?" 

*' I came by the boat, and stayed at the Home, where I ex- 
pected to find you all." 

" Well, but they would not allow us to stay." 

" Well, they allowed me to stay ; why not know your rights, 
and then maintain them?" I said. " We will look about and we 
shall probably find a home with some nice colored family; if not, 
we will stay at the Home." 

We soon found a colored woman who, before the war, had 
kept a large boarding-house. She took us, though she was in 
comparatively small quarters ; but she was exquisitely clean and 
gave us excellent food. I wish I could paint for my readers with 
my pen the graphic picture which this very black woman gave of 
the taking of Richmond. She said, " We had almost despaired, 
as we would hear of one city after another being taken, and we 
feared that in some way, we could not tell how, we had offended 
God, and so he was going to pass by Richmond, and leave us in 
our slavery. We humbled ourselves in the very dirt, and, with 
our faces on the ground, begged God to forgive the sin, whatever 
it might be, and send us the Yankee soldiers to free us." And 
on the Monday morning after Jefferson Davis thought it best to 
leave Richmond, she said, while going to her kitchen to cook her 
breakfast, she saw coming over the hills a company of soldiers, 
holding the flag with the stars and stripes. "Oh, how my heart 
leaped for joy; I ran into the street and with all our people in 
this part fell upon my knees and shouted glory. And then, when 
President Lincoln came some days after, I was standing in my 
door to look upon him. tie passed so near me that I could luu'e 
put my hand upon him, and he turned and looked, and he 



74 REMINISCENCES. 

certainly bowed to me. Thank the Lord, I saw our deliverer." 
This woman was a free woman and owned her house — earned 
it by keeping boarders. She had buried her husband and only 
child the last year of the war, and she mourned greatly that not 
a piece of black goods could be found in all that city, with w^hich 
she could robe herself as a mourner. Like many another, be- 
reaved of husband and child, she felt that sable garments would 
give her comfort. Grief is its own comforter, I know right well ; 
nothing else soothes us ; finally it wears itself out. I was clad in 
crape myself at that time, and when I saw how much this poor 
woman wanted such a costume, I gave her my bonnet and shawl 
and took from her a gingham sun-bonnet, which seemed rather 
out of place, as you will see, on my way back to Washington. 

A woman once a slave, whose history is so marvellor.c that 
I would like to give it to the reader, was one of the company 
of teachers, as was her daughter, who was so free from taint of 
color that she was educated in a New England academy in the 
old slave days, without her parentage being discovered by profes- 
sor or pupil. This woman had given her pass to a lady friend 
from Philadelphia, who desired greatly to visit Richmond, and so 
must return as she came by Baltimore. That city being not 
under military rule at that time she required no pass. I had tried 
to persuade another teacher who was going to remain in Rich- 
mond a week or two to give this woman her pass, assuring her I 
could and would procure one, and send it to her, but it was of no 
avail. When I reached the wharf, ready to take passage in the 
boat for Washington, this woman was there to say good-bye, 
wishing very much she could accompany us rather than go alone 
to Baltimore. As I handctl my pass for inspection, the officer 
said : 

" W' liich is Mrs. Colnian ? " 

" I am Mrs. Colnian." 

" Ant! wliich is your nurse?" 

I knew in a moment. Putting ni\' hand on this woman, I said, 
" This is the one." 

He looked at the handsome mulatto woman, nicely appareled, 
with a rather elegant bonnet and niceh'-fitting gloves, and then 
at me, with bare hands, and a gingham sunbonnet on ni)' head, 
sniilcd. but endorsed the pass, by saying, " All right — go on 
board." 



REMINISCENCES. 



75 



My nurse did not take, and only that her daughter saw that it 
was a scheme that I fully understood I might not have been able 
to get her onto the boat. I had a hand-basket in my hand, which 
I gave to my new nurse, and, with a good deal of authority, said, 
" Take my basket and go on board; what are you thinking of?" 

Bewildered, she turned to the daughter, who echoed my words, 
and went onto the boat. One of the officers of the boat, as she 
attempted to enter the cabin, stopped her, saying : 

" No niggers allowed in the cabin." 

I said, " When v/as the order given that a lady may not take 
her servant with her into the cabin? " 

" I beg pardon," said the officer; " I did not notice that you 
had a servant." 

So, my good friend, a lady — in every sense of the word, even 
in her dress — had a free ride to Washington in the cabin of a 
steam gun-boat, and to this day she does not know how it came 
about. She knows that when the inspector of my pass asked me 
which was nurse I put my hand upon her shoulder, and when 
she was ordered out of the cabin I claimed her right as my 
servant. I told no one about how it was done at the time, as in 
more cases than one I have found it not best to " let the right 
hand know what the left doeth ; " but as more than twenty years 
have gone by since this occurred, I will copy the pass : 

Pass Mrs. Colnian, vol. nurse, with transportation, to Richmond and 
return. [Signed by Surgeon-General.] 

The writing of the pass was in the professional style, and 
troublesome to read, and the inspector read " vol." as " and," and 
having inquired for both Mrs. Colman and the nurse, and seen 
them both, he was sure he had read the pass correctly; but 
smaller mistakes than that have sometimes caused great trouble. 
The inspectors at the two other military stations where the boat 
stopped read the pass in the same way. The one at Point of 
Rocks looked very sharp and said : 

"What is that word?" 

I said, "Can't you read, sir ! I think the other inspectors had 
no difficulty in deciphering it to mean ' and.' " 

My stay in Richmond of a week was full of interest. General 
Halleck was the military commander at the time, and every order 
he issued showed his hatred of the negro. I saw punishment 



76 REMINISCENCES. 

inflicted upon negroes for the smallest offense, that ought to have 
given the General's conscience a sting to his dying day. 

I visited the celebrated slave-pen where the slaves were kept 
in confinement, until the gangs were full that were sent to the 
more southern markets. I have forgotten the name of the man 
who owned this pen for human beings, who had dealt in them 
for many years, and had made himself rich in this infamous 
business. As I told him what I thought of him, he said : 

" I hain't no prejudice against color," and calling a boy, per- 
haps ten years old, to him, he continued, " Lady, this is my son." 
This child was a bright octoroon, strongly marked with African 
features ; I said, 

"Where is his mother?" 

"In New York, lady; she's stopping at a hotel thar, and thar 
ain't no lady thar that's got dresses as smart as her'n." 

" I said, " Why is she in New York ? " 

" Well," he answered, " I tuk her thar and married her a spell 
ago." 

" You had despaired of selling her since the ' emancipation 
act,' and so married her?" I remarked. 

" Well," said he, " I wanted a wife and I knew she'd be a good 
one, and this's her son, too — but you don't seem to think I've 
done suthing to be proud on. I thought you'd think 'twas 
pious." 

Piety is a strange substance. I wonder whether its possession 
is ever a blessing to its possessor or to those with whom he 
associates. 

I visited Castle Thunder and Libby Prison. \\'as in Libby 
when a soldier came in and offered the keeper a hundred-dollar 
bill to allow him to walk down one of the corridors. I asked the 
keeper why he refused and he told me that one of the keepers 
of the prison at Andersonville was in one of the cells that looked 
into the corridor, and he had no doubt he would have shot him 
if he had permitted him to get sight of him. 

Libby Prison was a sorry place even then, after the North had 
had possession of it nearly two months. How many people, I 
wonder, know that a black "woman was whipped to death in Rich- 
mond for persisting in throwing loaves of bread int(^ that prison- 
}-ar(l t() the starving soldiers? And Jefferson Davis was living in 
Kichnioiul ;it the time. 



R EM IN ISC EN CES. 7 7 

Dr. Mary Walker was a prisoner in Castle Thunder some six 
weeks. These two prisons were very noted as places of cruelty 
and starvation, but there were other prisons in Richmond equally 
bad — prisons for negroes — which had been in use for many years, 
where women even were immured for the awful crime of trying to 
escape from slavery. I became acquainted with one woman in 
Richmond who took me into a prison where she was once held a 
prisoner six weeks with a young babe, because her owner had 
died insolvent ; and so she was put in this dreadful prison to await 
a purchaser. Fortunately this slave woman had made a friend of 
a northern woman on whom she had waited ; and this friend pur- 
chased her and her child, and afterwards gave her a house and lot. 
This house was on the opposite corner from the one which the 
President of the Confederacy occupied during the war, after 
Richmond became the capital. 

General Halleck now made his headquarters in this same 
house, and it was pitiful to see how this man cared for this house 
— he was so afraid that I would take something as a relic ; even 
the bushes in the yard were protected by an announcement that 
they w^ere not to be broken. I have never been a relic-hunter, but 
had received requests from Northern friends for articles from the 
"seat of war," but I only gathered a few tufts of grass from the 
home of Jeff Davis. I had already a piece of the whipping-post 
and a pair of handcuffs, a slave-whip, etc., which I put with a 
piece of the coffin and the inside lining of the coffin in which 
President Lincoln's remains were buried, with many other things 
of like value, but I have given them all away, preserving nothing 
save a night-shirt of her husband which Mrs. Lincoln gave me; 
a rather strange article to give one as a keepsake, but Mrs. Lin- 
coln was a very strange woman. 

I visited the colored schools in and about the city ; went some 
miles below Richmond to see a school which I had learned had 
been applied for by a man who, because he had been a clergy- 
man, had been kept in power over the contrabands at Alexandria 
till they (these freed people) had risen against him. One of these 
women had knocked him down with an iron frying-pan and gone 
herself to the military commandant and told him what she had 
done, and said she had come to receive the punishment. The 
commandant said, " Don't do it again." I opened the eyes of 



78 REMINISCENCES. 

the people to whom he had made application, so that the school 
was refused him. 

I had a reason for wishing to visit Richmond which had noth- 
ing to do with schools or pupils at that time. Many, many years 
before, when I was a widow the first time, I had been employed 
in a boarding-school where Prof. Minnegerode, a young refugee 
from Germany, was one of the teachers. He was full of enthu- 
siasm at that time for liberty ; had just barely escaped with his 
life because of the near position which his father held to the 
emperor, but was compelled to leave the country, as he, with his 
class in college, had been discovered in instigating treason. He 
had renounced Roman Catholicism and seemed to be really a 
Freethinker. He had afterw^ards been appointed to a professor- 
ship in " William and Mary College " in Virginia, and finally the 
rector of the Episcopal church in Richmond. 

We were for some time on such intimate terms as to exchange 
letters quite frequently, and at one time the gentleman came to 
Massachusetts to see me ; but finally we both married and the 
correspondence ceased. I wished very much to see him and had 
pictured to myself something of an exciting interview, as I knew 
how widely we had grown apart. I had seen a report of a ser- 
mon which this rector had preached, some six weeks previous to 
the taking of Richmond, from the text, " The Lord shall put far 
away from you the Northern army," and he had said in that ser- 
mon " that the people of that city were just as safe as though 
they were in Abraham's bosom." I went to his house, saw his 
wife and children, an only daughter, bearing my name, and three 
or four sons at home. The father was with his eldest son, bring- 
ing him home by short stages, as he could bear it, he having 
been badly wounded by some of the last volleys at Petersburg ; 
and so, as has been often my case in life, I was disappointed. I 
gave Mrs. Minnegerode my present name ; did not tell her what 
my former name was nor where I knew her husband. Such are 
some of the changes in life. 1 have seen somewhere that " a 
man's good or ill fortune is his wife," but what is the fortune of 
a wife who marries a man so weak that his wife is obliged to 
think for him ? 

The free woman, who had been paid fur b\' a Northern woman 
and had her home near Jefferson Davis, had husband and children 
— two or three grown up sons. They had several cows and their 



REMINISCENCES. 79 

business had been selling milk, eggs, etc. This woman made a 
little party for me and my teachers. She invited several colored 
people— ministers and their wives. One of her daughters was 
soon to be married and the lover was a guest. We had a very 
nice dinner, with all the ct cctcras, and in the evening ice-cream 
and cake— all excellent and everything in good taste. 

This lady said to me, "I have heard of you, Mrs. Colman, and 
I am so grateful to you that I would be willing to crawl on my 
knees fro^m this city to Washington, if only by so doing I could, 
in any way, do you any good." I am glad to be appreciated ; but 
who pays the slave for his sufferings? In this interminable talk 
of compensating the slave-owner for his losses, who ever thought 
of paying the slave for the loss of a lifetime ? We are none of us 
very patient of wrongs done by those whom our race defrauded 
of everything but life itself, and often of that. 

Richmond is beautifully situated, but when I was there it was 
desolation itself. The rebels set fire to the best part of it 
and it was lying in ashes. We were invited to the house of the 
civil governor, a fine-looking place, but one thing looked strange 
to a Northerner, that was the houses were all dirty. I rather 
think they knew nothing of house-cleaning; and that was the case 
in the District of Columbia. The flies, as they awoke in the 
spring, found their nests as they left them in the autumn-nothing 
washed. Ignorance and filth are the accompaniments of slavery. 
The war was over, the new President inaugurated, the heat of 
the summer was upon us and it was time to return to my North- 
ern home. I had grown old in these years of the war. Chattel 
slavery was abolished and I felt that I had fairly earned rest. 
Many very sad things had come into my domestic life, thmgs 
that I do not record, because private sorrows are not for public 
ears Death is easily talked about, for it is what sooner or later 
romes to all of us ; but there are troubles harder to bear than 
death, which we hide in our own bosoms, and the world has no 
suspicion that we are not comfortably happy. 

It seemed best to remove my home to Syracuse, where a sis- 
ter of mine was living, and where in a short time came another 
sister to die. We were at first four sisters, now only two of us 

remained. ^ „ , 

H. L. Green was at this time a resident of Syracuse, and 

through his exertions a radical club was formed which, for a time, 



So REMINISCENCES. 

w as very prosperous, but it was very democratic, and some people 
who belonged in it intellectually did not like to associate Avith 
people who were not always grammatical in speech or fashionable 
in their attire. However, we held a very respectable meeting 
once, and sometimes twice a week for several years. I was myself 
chairman three years. At last I left the city for a year, resigning 
my place, and assuring the society that I would never hold office 
again. I was too old, was not physically able to be out evenings, 
etc. Mr. Green removed from the city and the club gave up the 
ghost. Soon the Liberal Leagues were formed and the two 
papers, the Index and TrutJi Seeker seemed to become partisan. 
I had taken the Index for two or three years, but it had become 
distasteful to me and I gave it up. I had never seen but one or 
two copies of the Truth Seeker, when, receiving a letter from the 
late D. M. Bennett, I was informed that a league had been formed 
in Syracuse for the purpose of helping the editor of the Index by 
votes at the National League, which was soon to meet in Syra- 
cuse. I was surprised that two leading members of the old 
Radical Club had entirely ignored myself and sister, keeping the 
existence of such society as private from us as though it were 
something that we should taint by being connected with it. I 
was somewhat angered, and with my sister I started out. We 
obtained about double the number of names requisite for a league, 
sent for a charter and in a week had a Liberal League, which 
we named after John Stuart Mill, in good running order. The 
history of the division in the National League is familiar to us 
all; I do not care to return to it ; suffice it to say that it was a 
hard fight, but those of us who survive, though scarred, feel that 
for us the battle was a triumph. It is well to know our friends. 
I was so falsified by men and women at that time that Syracuse 
has never been the same to me and never can be. I have a few 
friends whom I love as brothers and sisters and they luue been 
to me everything. In the long sickness, terminating in death, of 
my last sister, my only surviving near relative, they were all in all 
to me — but I feel that my work is nearly done. 

Tile Truth Seeker family, with its supporters are very dear to 
me — my own famil}', as I ha\e no either, I ma}' call it. They 
have alwa\-s treated me with kindness — with an appreciation far 
bcj'ond ni\' <lcserts, nrvcr having rejected an\tliii)L; which I have 
sent tluin. I ha\c had ni<>rc than my share ol the papci'. 



REMINISCENCES. Si 

Since I came into this family of Truth Seekers we have lost 
by death very many valuable members. First our martyred 
editor and publisher, but "his soul has been marching on" 
through all these years, inspiring his followers to continue the 
work so well begun by him. Then our loved and highly-talented 
secretary, T. C. Leland. How much we miss his genial presence 
and his gifted pen ! And then dear and most excellent Elizur 
Wright — almost peerless as a helper in all ways ; his intellect was 
marvelous, his heart full of goodness, and his fearlessness was 
always active. Is it duty? that question answered in the affirm- 
ative he never shrank. We have lost others less known — my own 
sister, Mrs. Raymond, Mrs. Bonnell of Junius, Mr. Mitchell of 
West Junius and many others. Peace to them all ! 

I had thought it would be interesting, at least to some of my 
friends, to give some reminiscences of my experience as a Spirit- 
ualist, as many very interesting phenomena have come under my 
observation. I was very well acquainted with Dr. John Bovee 
Dods, one of the very earliest psychologists in the country, trav- 
eling in many of the states and exhibiting his wonderful psycho- 
logical powers. I think he was only second to Dr. Sunderland 
in that matter. I have seen them both on the platform. Dr. 
Dods' daughter was an inmate of my family for many months. 
But so much feeling has been expressed by some of the promi- 
nent Spiritualists at some things I have published that, for the 
present, I have abandoned the work. 



AMY POST. 




A Paper Read by Lucy N. Colman before the Woman's 
Political Club of Rochester, N. Y. 

IADIES: You ask of me a short biographical sketch of your late honored 
-* friend and member, Mrs. Amy Post. If love and the most sacred 
friendship are the requisites for success in such an undertaking then I feel that 

you could not have chosen better. 
Notwithstanding, I must say I can- 
not hope to satisfy you all. I belong 
to a generation that left woman out 
from the educational privileges which 
most, if not all, of you who are to- 
day in middle life enjoy. I trust, 
however, that the matter that I shall 
bring to you will atone for any lack 
in the manner of its presentation. 

Mrs. Amy Kirby Post was born 
in 1802 to Jacob and Mary Kirby of 
Jericho, Long Island, who were 
honorable members of the Society of 
Friends ; she was of cheerful tem- 
perament, enjoying intensely the 
pleasures of out-door life, so that the 
restraints which the good mother felt called upon to put upon her child, lest 
she should be unfaithful to the customs and traditions ot her people, were 
sometimes irksome and hard to bear; for this daughter of a quiet Quaker 
home would have liked to have danced and sung, for merry she must be ; her 
spirits refused to droop, she loved flowers and would so imitate their form and 
color on canvas. She appreciated beauty everywhere, and I am sure she felt 
that her own charming presence would have lost nothing if only she were per- 
mitted to choose her own style of dress rather than be confined to the quaint 
fashion of the long ago. But none of these things, had they been allowed, 
would have been essential to her happiness very long, for, with a nature like 
hers, the more serious duties of life soon claimed attention to the exclusion of 
lighter fancies. 

I think Mrs. Post inherited from her parents an active hatred of oppression 
and persecution. The Friends publications, though not many in the beginning 
of this century, must have recorded the infamous treatment which these simple 
and harmless people received, from magistrate and minister alike. Tied to a 
wagon, not only men but women were whipped naked through tlie streets of 
Boston, and admonished that if they returned their lives would be forfeited. 
They did return and paid the penalty. Amy Post was a descendant of these 
martyrs and surely knew it. She never evaded a duty through fear of con- 
sequences and always presented a brave front against all oppressions. 

Our friend was the beloved wife of the late Isaac Post, born into, and 



84 REMINISCENCES. 

member with her, of the Society of Friends. It is great praise, but justly 
merited, to say that Isaac Post was worthy to be the husband of our lamented 
friend, and that they walked together to the end of his long and useful life, 
each leaning upon and helping the other. When the Antislavery agitation 
put on renewed earnestness in 1842, or thereabouts, they became most earnest 
workers for the freedom of the blacks. Mrs. Post, in company with " the 
world's people," left her home for the purpose of holding bazars or fairs to 
raise funds to carry on the Antislavery work. This was a violation of the 
Friends discipline. A committee was appointed to reason with Amy, and one 
of the objects of this visitation was to advise her in regard to her duty towards 
her family ; also her attitude as working with the "world's people." According 
to their testimony it was not possible that she could have attended to all her 
family duties, which led our friend to exhibit the contents of her stocking-bag 
— the store on hand being sixty-four pairs. Mrs. Post rarely sat idle at social 
gatherings or public lectures. The only effect these proceedings had was 
renewed effort in behalf of the down-trodden and oppressed, and finally Isaac 
and Amy Post withdrew from the Society of Friends. 

Mrs. Post had no need to discipline herself for her prejudice against color, 
she had not one bit in her nature, and when at last the infamous Fugitive 
Slave Law was passed by Congress, and President Fillmore signed it, the more 
serious work begun for the Abolitionists. At one time I went to Canada with 
Mrs. Post to see how those poor fugitive creatures were faring who had sought 
refuge there — it was said to the number of forty thousand — and I doubt, if in 
all that number, there were one thousand who were unacquainted with the 
name of Amy Post ; and from how many of those once manacled hands, now 
freed, did this brave woman help strike off the chains none will ever know, as 
her home, the "central depot'" of the underground railroad, was shelter and 
comforter to the African race for many years. 

On one ever memorable Sabbath, when ministers of the city were preaching 
of a Saviour who nearly nineteen hundred years before was a hated, hunted 
fugitive from the Judea Church, Isaac and Amy Post, believing deeds not words 
were fittest sermons to His memory, took beneath their roof twelve hunted 
fugitives, hopefully watching for the curtains of night to close on Monday 
evening, to speed to freedom these children of the same Father. 

And when we remember, friends, that even to give a cup of cold water to 
one of these meant imprisonment for not less than one year, and a fine of one 
thousand dollars, we can better understand how necessary it then was that all 
must be done in tlie darkness and silence of the night, if our friends, Isaac 
and Amy Post, were to be helpful to the slave to the end, and dawn of 
freedom's morning. Are you not glad, my sisters of the Political Club, that 
no woman helped to make that law ? O, remember, when you shall help to 
enact the laws by which you sliall govern and be governed, that tyranny and 
cruelty be excluded from the law books. I cannot dwell longer here upon 
the Antislavery work of our beloved friend. She was known in all reforms. 
"Woman's Rights" was a cause she advocated in its earliest stages. She 
believed with all her heart in the equality of the sexes and was willing to 
spend and be spent for tliat cause. It was not easy to bear all the opprobrium 



REMINISCENCES. 85 

that was cast upon these early workers. Not every woman whose heart was 
in the work had the loving sympathy which dear, good Isaac Post gave to his 
w:fe. Our friend tried, also, to bring about a better condition for domestic 
help in our cities. When she first became a resident of Rochester she was 
visited by women whose business it was to ask her not to give her "help" too 
many privileges, as it made the girls discontented. " Why ? " asked our friend. 
"I have been thinking to-day," said she, "what I could do to improve their 
condition, as it seems to me the workers should fare better than the idlers.^' 
The women found themselves discomfited and did not continue their work. 

Mrs. Post felt that it was not well to prepare a more elaborate table than 
could be well afforded because of guests. A circumstance, in which I was 
interested, I think I will relate, as in it there is a lesson which has often been 
useful on similar occasions. I had not had an hour alone with my friend for a 
long time, and she had sent me word that a strange thing had occurred at her 
home (36 Sophia street) and she would like to see me and tell me about it. 
The strange happening was that only the immediate family of Mr. and Mrs. 
Post had slept under their roof the previous night (the first night for fifteen 
years), and we anticipated a quiet afternoon together. We went to Mrs. Post's 
room, but were hardly seated when the bell rung. 1 felt mischievous and 
pushed her into a large closet, going in and closing the door after me. The 
girl failed to find us and so reported. The visitors gave their names, saymg 
they would leave their wraps and go shopping and would be back to supper 
and spend the night. " What shall I get for supper ? " said the cook. " Thee 
must get a very nice supper, for these are not our best friends. We have not a 
hearty welcome for them, so must treat them as well as we can." I have 
always remembered from that time that true friends need not be feted. 

Some years since, some of the women of the churches of the city decided 
to try to close the houses of prostitution and to persuade their poor deluded 
inmates to lead a different life. A meeting was called in one of the churches 
to consider the matter. The first important subject which came up was to 
know where these " fallen women could go." Few of these evangelical women 
could open their homes and say, " Neither do I condemn thee ; come with me 
and sin no more." But our friend spoke up and said, " I will take one, and if 
there is no second place for the other, I will take her, too." 

My friends, you have just laid this noble woman into the silent grave, but 
do you not remember of whom it was said, "being dead, yet speaketh ! " Let 
us listen, my sisters, possibly we may find echo in our own hearts. 

Mrs. Post was hospitable in an eminent degree. She turned none from 
her door. The pleasant, " Won't thee come in," was the greeting, but it is ot 
a higher hospitality I wish now to speak. She was hospitable, yea, reverent 
to o'lie's ideas, not always adopting them, but gave them audience. She 
never prejudged, knowing that every step in the world's progress, as few of us 
can know, had bruised the feet of those who first broke the path, and was, 
therefore, careful to entertain those stranger thoughts, knowing that she might, 
by so domg, entertain diviner wisdom. 

My pen almost refuses to stop until I write of her friendship. You who 
have enjoyed it know what it was. To me it was sacred ; only in Spiritualism 



86 REMINISCENCES. 

were we not agreed. But I loved her none the less, that to her conscious life 
was unending. 'Tis not needful, my friends, that we think alike of the Infinite, 
or of infinite power, only let us use with all diligence what power we have for 
the good of Humanity to a higher evolution with the same persistence as 
opportunity offers, as did our friend, Amy Post. 

With one or two incidents which give much insight into the gentle methods 
of our friend, and I have done. For some years a little beggar girl came to 
36 Sophia street, not being turned away ; oftener coming, became familiar, even 
to drumming on the piano, some of the family remonstrated, eliciting this 
reply : " She enjoys it so ; perhaps this is the only pleasant time in her daily 
life, I do not want her checked." 

Another; when years ago an Indian came to borrow an ax, to chop out 
bows and arrows, when the woods were nearer Cornhill than at present, where 
he went daily for three weeks, borrowing and returning all this time the ax, 
until the Indian became a familiar visitor, too ; and when sometime after his 
eyes became diseased, Isaac Post and Friend Frost procured medical treat- 
ment, trying to prevent, but in vain, his misfortune ot coming blindness. 
This poor old blind Indian did not cease his yearly visits to our friend. When 
too dirty and objections became too strong for resistance, for entertaining him 
in the house, he was still made comfortable in tlie stable, and tliough not 
being able to look upon the face of his friend for nearly forty years, it is to be 
hoped when he reaches the " Happy Hunting Ground " blind John may be 
al)le to see once more tlie kind faces of his friends, Isaac and Amy Post, 
wlio for so many, many years ministered to his wants so faithfully on earth. 



I 



